Tomorrow Never Knows
by PauPauJ
Summary: Santana didn't attend High School with the others but she's introduced to the gang by Quinn several years later as a tragic event brings them all back to Lima. One of them especially captures her attention. Short summary I know! Read the first chapter and see if you like. If not, stop reading ;)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - So I've been having this idea for a long time and thought it was time to put it down in writing. It's a pretty short first chapter and I don't know if it's good or not but if you want me to continue please let me know! **

**Disclaimer, I own nothing!**

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**Chapter I**

_If I die young, bury me in satin.  
Lay me down on a bed of roses.  
Sink me in the river at dawn.  
Send me away with the words of a love song._

My eyes studied the faces of the people occupying the benches in the church as I sang the first part of the song. Many were crying. Most of them subtle and quietly. What gave them away was when they from time to time would wipe their eyes with the tissues in their hands.

_Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother.  
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colours.  
Oh, and, life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no.  
Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby._

_The sharp knife of a short life.  
Oh well, I've had just enough time._

In every other situation in my life I'd be very indifferent to other peoples feelings and I would rarely show any emotions myself. Almost everyone would refer to me as a bitch. A cold-hearted one. I knew this, but didn't give a damn. It was perfect for my image and also, it kept people away. I don't like people. And I certainly don't need them. The only time I'd open up would be during my performances. However, the song I'm singing right now isn't something I usually sing. It's a little bit too raw for my taste.

_If I die young, bury me in satin.  
Lay me down on a bed of roses.  
Sink me in the river at dawn.  
Send me away with the words of a love song._

_The sharp knife of a short life.  
Oh well, I've had just enough time._

My eyes wandered over the faces of the people in the front row. I was careful not to let my eyes watch anybody for too long. It scared me. But I couldn't help to study the mother of the young man the funeral was for. The mother was crying, but just like most of the other attendants quietly. Maybe even more so than most.

Next my eyes fell to Quinn who was sitting two rows behind the mother. Quinn met my eyes and gave me a small smile. I could see that there were unshed tears in her eyes and I felt the urge look away immediately but I fought it. I needed to show her that I was here for her. I hated seeing her like this. She was my best friend. Well, my only friend really. So I may have lied when I said I didn't need people. I definitely needed her. But other than her, I don't need anybody else. Anyway, she's the only one that has ever put up with my shit. We've known each other for six years now.

_And I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom.  
As green as the ring on my little cold finger.  
I've never known the loving of a man.  
But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand._

_There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever.  
Who would have thought forever could be severed by,  
The sharp knife of a short life.  
Oh well, I've had just enough time._

I closed my eyes when I saw that the unshed tears in Quinns started to fall. I couldn't see it. I didn't want to. I hated seeing people in general crying. It made me feel very uncomfortable and I never knew what to say or do when people cried. For that reason I avoided those situations at all costs. Of course that makes you wonder why I'm even performing at a funeral. Well, Quinn asked me, or practically begged me, so I couldn't say no. I don't even now the guy that died. The only thing I know is that his name is Finn and that he died way too young. Quinn and he went to High School together and were once a couple. He must have been very liked since the church is packed with people.

_So put on your best, boys and I'll wear my pearls.  
What I never did is done.  
A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar.  
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner.  
And maybe then you'll hear the words I've been singing.  
Funny, when you're dead how people start listen'n._

I opened my eyes again but let them drift to nothing in particular. My gaze stopped at a chandelier with the burning candles in the far back of the church. The slow burning flames of at the top of the candles caught my attention. The thought that a life can just as easily be taken away as someone blowing out one of those candles. I shook the thought as it was just too depressing, and close my eyes again for the next part.

_If I die young, bury me in satin.  
Lay me down on a bed of roses.  
Sink me in the river at dawn'.  
Send me away with the words of a love song._

When I open my eyes I scan the church to find Quinn again. I see that she calmed herself a bit which makes me slightly more comfortable. My eyes flicker to the person to the left of her but only for less than a second, as I see that the girls tears are running freely down her cheeks. I can't handle that. But my body has a different opinion though and my eyes fall to the left of Quinn again. My eyes are drawn to hers. She's looking right at me. Her eyes are incredible. The piercing blue colour instantly draws me deeper and my heart skips a beat. It catches me of guard and I almost choke on the lyrics I'm singing. What the hell is happening. I've never choked while performing. Or almost choked I mean. I try to force myself to look away because right now I'm staring. I hold her eyes for what seems like an eternity. Since I can't seem to look away I settle for the next best thing. I close my eyes as the song is soon coming to an end.

_The ballad of a dove.  
Go with peace and love.  
Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket.  
Save them for a time when you're really gonna need them,  
The sharp knife of a short life oh.  
Well, I've had just enough time.  
So put on your best boys, and I'll wear my pearls.  
_

As I sing the last note I open my eyes and they are right back at the girl with the amazing eyes. The tears are still running down her cheeks. She looks so very sad and it breaks my heart. I just want to take all her pain away and in that moment I realize I'd literally do anything to see her smile. In the next moment I realize what I'm thinking and quickly shake the thought away.

I tear my eyes from hers and slowly make my way to side of the church and sit down. I put my hands in my lap squeezing them together trying to relieve some of the tension I'm feeling. My eyes are drawn to her again. She's now looking at the priest listening to whatever he's saying. I wouldn't know. I haven't really been paying attention to him at all since the ceremony started. Since I haven't been looking at anything else but her eyes I take this opportunity to look at the rest of her. She has beautiful long blonde hair that's hanging loosely down her shoulders. She's wearing, what I'm guessing, is a dress because I can only see the upper part of it. It fits her perfectly. A black scarf is hanging around her neck, upper back and the ends on each side are covering her upper arms. Simply gorgeous. I can't help but feel disappointed that I can't see more though.

The ceremony is getting closer to the end. I know this because the girl next to me is getting up to sing the last song. I think her name is Mercedes.

She starts singing Elton Johns Candle In The Wind, and she definitely pulls it off. While she's singing the people get up from their seats, walks slowly up to the closed casket to say their last goodbyes before

As I listen to the chorus of the song my eyes automatically goes back to the chandelier I was looking at before in the back of the church. I notice that one of the flames have gone out. I can't help but feel a pang of sadness for the guy that is being buried here today. It seems like the candle is representing him and that it burnt out long before it should have.

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**A/N - So continue or not?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - Here's chapter 2! Please let me know what you think and if I should continue on with it! :)  
**

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**Chapter II**

I search my purse to find the lighter. Momentarily I think that I've forgotten it at the hotel and curse myself. But just as I was thinking it I find it and quickly light the cigarette that's already between my lips. I know, smoking is a disgusting habit but it calms me. And I really need calming now. Almost everyone is standing outside the church and talking. Some of them are still crying and I think they're about to leave for the funeral reception. I'm not going. Quinn said I was invited but it don't feel right to attend it. After all I didn't know Finn.

I was meeting Quinn later for drinks at a pub in town. She had given me the directions to it earlier and I was sure it wasn't going to be too hard to find. Lima wasn't that big. As I watched the group of friends talking I wondered what they did for fun around here as kids. Can't have been that interesting. Compared to New York where I grew up it just seemed so boring. Quinn said that it was a nice place though and that she had a lot of fun growing up in the small town. I had a hard time believing her.

I took one last drag from the cigarette before throwing it at the ground and carefully stepping on it with my foot to make sure it was out. I folded my arms over my chest as an attempt to shield myself from the cold. It was still early spring. As the cold it me I realized that I forgot my scarf inside the church. Damn. I really didn't want to go inside again I thought as I saw Quinn leaving her friends and walking towards me.

"Hey San." She says with a sad smile and gives me a hug. I hold on to her a little longer than usual. "Thank you for singing. It was beautiful, so thanks again." She says as we let go.

"Of course." I smile. "Are you okay?"

She shrugs. "The hardest part is over, right?" It wasn't really a question so I decide to not say anything. "We're about to leave for the reception. Are you coming with?"

"No, I think I'm gonna go back to the hotel."

She nods understanding. "Okay. But I'll see you later at Zero Tolerance, right?" That's the name of the pub we're going. Who's the idiot that named it, right?

"Absolutely. Around 7?"

"Sounds good. See you later." She says and gives me another hug before turning around and walking back to the others. She says something to them and then they're all starting to walk away. It's not until now that I notice that the gorgeous blonde is not with them. I wonder if she already left. Probably. Disappointed that I didn't get to see her one more time I walk towards the church again to get my scarf. I meet a man on the stairs that are leading up to the entrance of the church. I greet him with a quiet nod and he responds in the same way. He's carrying the flowers that were earlier on the casket. When I enter the church I stop.

I stop because I see her. She's there, sitting in the second row from the front. Her head is slightly bent down as if she's looking at her lap. I just stand there and stare at her. I take a step forward but stop myself not knowing what to do. Should I just get my scarf and leave? But to get it I need to walk past her and I don't want to disturb her. She probably wants to be alone. Why would she stay in the church after everybody left otherwise? As I study her I see that she's breathing heavily. I wonder if she's crying. The thought makes me frown and I feel sad for her. I don't want her to cry. I quickly look around the church to see if anybody else is there. It seems like we're alone. Should I sit down? Or should I go outside again and wait until she leaves? It feels like I'm intruding. I turn around to leave but I only manage to get a few steps before my body has a mind of its own and I stop again. I should stay. I don't know why, but I should stay.

I turn around again and as quietly as possible I walk between the two rows of benches. Three rows behind her I decide is the perfect place. Not too close to be creepy and startle her if she would turn to leave, and not too far away to make her think that I was scared of sitting too close. I know, that doesn't sound logical at all. I sit down. The bench creaks even though as was trying to be careful not to make any sounds. I hold my breath as I look up at her again to see if she noticed. She's not showing any signs of that she did.

I wonder why she's not at the reception like everybody else. I lean back and continue to watch her. I can't seem to tear my eyes away from her. I wish I could see her face and those beautiful blue eyes again. We sit quietly for several minutes and I'm sure she's not even aware of that I'm there. I suddenly wish I'd sat down beside her instead. But that would have been weird. I realize that the situation is already weird. I'm sitting here and staring at a girl that I don't even know. God, I'd love to get to know her. I can't help but feeling I should say something. Something that would comfort her, but I don't know how to do that. I'm not exactly known for being a consoling person. For her I'd like to at least try to be that person. The thought scares me.

"There's something about churches that always makes me feel empty and yet so overwhelmed with emotions." Her sudden words startle me. Her voice sounds angelic and at the same time it's so filled with sadness. It breaks my heart. I don't know how to respond to what she said. I don't think she's even expecting an answer. Was she even talking to me, or was it just something she said into the emptiness of the church?

No, I'm pretty sure it was meant for me. Well, maybe not me in particular but for the stranger that was sitting some rows behind her. She didn't even know it was me who were sitting here.

"You sang beautifully." I can't help but smile as she says it. And I guess I was wrong, she knew that it was me sitting here. How did she know that?

She's getting up from the bench right after she spoke for the second time. She starts walking down the aisle in the middle of the church and stops at the row where I'm sitting. Her eyes meets mine for the what feels like the longest time ever and at the same time it feels like it's not long enough. How is that even possible? As she breaks our gaze she looks down at what she's holding in her hands. I follow her eyes and sees that what she's holding is my scarf.

"You forgot this." She says holding it out for me and I hurriedly get up to take it. She doesn't let go of it immediately, and we're both standing there just holding it. I look up from it and meet her eyes again. "I was planning on giving it to Quinn so she'd pass it on to you. But seeing as you're here…" She drifts off as she lets go of the scarf. I hold it for a moment before I realize that this is where I should speak.

"Thank you." It's the first thing I've said to her and I can't believe it took me this long.

"You're welcome." The intensity of looking into her eyes is too much so I look away. We stand quietly for a moment. "Well, I should get going." She says breaking the silence.

I only nod my head as a response. I don't know why, but it seems like my ability to speak has suddenly taken a holiday. She turns around to leave and I can't do anything else than just watch her. I rack my brain trying to find something to say but I come up empty. Just when I think she's about to disappear from my life forever she turns around towards me again.

"I'm Brittany by the way." She says with a small smile. I smile back and hold her gaze. Brittany. I like it. No, I love it. It fits her perfectly. Right… and this is where I should speak again I remind myself.

"I'm Santana." I force it out and it feels like it's the hardest thing I've ever had to say. Why is it so hard to speak around her?

"I know." She simply says and gives me a genuine smile. This time it reaches her eyes and it makes me feel amazing that she's able to smile this way to me even though I know she's having a hard time right now. I watch her as she once again turns around to leave. She walks slowly towards the door and as she reaches it she gives me one last glance before opening the door to disappear.

I walk slowly around the small town and just take it all in. It's very calm and I haven't seen that many people. It's Sunday and pretty much everything seems to be closed.

I took me a while to leave the church after my, however brief, interaction with Brittany. I just sat there. It's been a strange day. I only left the church when my stomach started to scream for food. I took a cab to the centre of the town and asked the driver for a good place to eat. He suggested a place called Breadstix and spoke of it highly as the best restaurant in Lima. So that's where I went and he wasn't wrong. It felt pretty weird eating by myself so I did it quickly and then left. The time was nearing 5pm, which meant that I had two hours until I was meeting Quinn at Zero Tolerance. So here I was, just roaming the streets waiting for the time to pass. I hope Quinn is feeling alright. My phone starts to buzz. I looked at the caller ID. It was Schuester, my manager. I let out a sigh before answering.

"What?"

"_Hello to you too Lopez. How's it going?_"

"Fine. What do you want?"

"_I wanted to know if you're still set on taking three weeks off?_"

"Yes, I'm very set on it." I'm annoyed. He's been on my ass for taking a vacation in the middle of the launch of the new record. I get why, but I don't care. I need to be here for Quinn and some time off wouldn't hurt me. I don't think I've had a real vacation in four years so it's about damn time.

"_It's going to hurt the record._"

"Are you kidding me?" I almost yell. "You're ridiculous. The record is selling even more than my previous ones."

"_Yeah, that's true. But if you'd promote it, it would sell even more."_

"Fuck off, Will. I have more important things to do right now. I'm leaving for the tour in three weeks and that will be enough promotion. Almost every concert is sold out and I fucking need to take a breather."

"_Okay, okay! But you better not cancel any shows._"

"Has that ever happened?"

"_No. But you've never taken a vacation either._"

"Exactly!" I exclaim. I'm so not in the mood for this.

"_Alright. I'll call you tomorrow._"

"No, you won't. Don't call me this week. At all. Not unless it's an emergency. Anything other than emergencies you can take up with Jennifer."

Jennifer is kind of my assistant. She takes care of my schedule and makes sure I know where to be and on what time. After Quinn she's probably the one that knows me the best, and most of the time I consider her to be a friend even though she barely knows anything about me. But I don't get totally annoyed in her presence and I don't want to rip her head off all the time so I guess she's alright.

"_If you say so Santana._"

"I am." I say and hang up the phone.

I forcefully put my phone back in my purse and at the same time decide to head back to the hotel to take a shower and get ready for the night.

I open the door to the pub and glance down at my clock. I was about 45 minutes early but I couldn't stand hanging around in the hotel room. It only took me half an hour to get ready and after that I went down to the bar in the hotel lobby for a drink. It only took me five minutes of that to get bored and I downed the drink and looked up the direction to the pub. It turned out that it was only a ten minute walk from the hotel. The pub was pretty empty. Only a hand full of customers. I walked towards the bar and immediately got the bartenders attention.

"I shot of vodka and a beer, thank you."

"Coming right up!" He says and only seconds after the drinks were set down in front of me. I took the shot and savored the feeling of it travelling down my throat. I needed that.

"I recognize you, have you been here before?" The bartender stares at me for a moment. "Oh wait! You're that singer!" He exclaims making me feel very self-conscious. I was hoping to avoid being recognized.

"No, I'm not." I try to laugh it off.

"Yes, you are! I would recognize you anywhere!" I give him a look that clearly says that he better calm the fuck down now or I'll kill him. Some moments passes while we just stare at each other. I give up realizing that the right tactic is not pretending to not be me.

"Okay, I am." I say and throw my arm up as a sign of defeat. "But please keep it down. I kind of just want a quiet night." Another moment of stares passes by as I'm giving him my most pleading look. And Santana Lopez rarely pleads so he should feel special.

"Okay." He nods. "On one condition?" He continues with a smirk. I nod to make him name the condition. "Give me your number." I laugh out loud at this.

"Not gonna happen pal. Not even if you give me free drinks all night!" He laughs too.

"No need to insult me, I was just kidding!"

"Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to insult you, but your way of hitting on women are pathetic."

"Ouch!"

"Sorry, sorry!" I laugh. "It's not that you aren't good looking but you do play for the wrong team I'm afraid." I say and give him a wink.

"I know. And I'm going to take it upon me to speak for all men out there, it's a disappointment." He chuckles while taking my empty shot glass and puts it by the rest of the dirty dishes. "But your secret is safe with me. I'm not going to shout out that we have a famous singer here. Though, it would be good for business." He says quietly and winks before moving on to the customers waiting at the other end of the bar.

I turn around in the bar stool and lean my back against the counter while sipping on my beer. I spot the pool table and the two guys playing. I guess they're about 40 years old and I get the feeling that they are regulars. One of them is wearing a cowboy hat and has a small mustache. The other one is wearing a cap and about 80% of his face is covered in a beard. I glance down at my watch again. Quinn won't be here in at least half an hour. Maybe a round of pool would be a good way to make the time go faster.

I get up and move towards the two guys playing.

"Whoever wins is up against me?" I say as I get close enough for them to hear. The both of them look at me somewhat surprised. It takes forever for either of them to answer. Their drunken haze lets me know it's going to be an easy win.

"Sure." Both of them shrug and continue to play until the man in the cowboy hat wins. They rack the table again and Cowboy Hat turns to looks at me.

"Okay, darling. Let's see what you're made of." He says with a smile.

20 minutes later we've started the second round as I crushed him the first and he wanted revenge. He's not gonna get it though since I'm about five plays from taking him down again.

"Damn little lady, you're destroying him." Beard says and laughs at his friend.

"Shut it. It's not over until the eight ball is down."

"She'll win, and she'll bring your balls down with the eight ball too. You might as well just hand them to her now!" I chuckle at this and take a sip from my beer.

I haven't said a word since we started to play. It was more interesting to listen to the two men bicker and fight like two teenage boys. I watch Cowboy Hat as he once again misses an easy shot. Jesus. This is not even a challenge. He swears and Beard laughs again. Cowboy Hat hits him on the shoulder as I search for my next move in the game.

"Making grown men cry again, Santana?" I smile at Quinns voice while easily making another ball fall down in the pocket. Four plays left.

"You know it!" I say turning around towards her. After a quick hug I shift my attention to Beard and hands him my cue.

"You wanna finish him off?" I ask with a smirk which he returns.

"With pleasure!" He takes the cue.

"Good, 'cause I was getting bored." I says as I start to walk towards the bar. Quinn laughs and follows me. I raise my empty beer bottle to show the bartender I want another one. "Make it two!" He gives me a thumbs up as a sign of that he heard me. "So, how are you doing?"

"I'm alright. It's been a long day."

"Yeah…" I nod understanding. "How was the reception?"

"Depressing." Another understanding nod is the only thing I come up with. We sit in silence until the bartender places two beers in front of us.

"Here you go ladies." He says and disappears quickly again.

"He's cute." Quinn says after another moment of silence. I chuckle. I realize I've missed her a lot. A part from a quick meeting yesterday to prepare for the ceremony I haven't seen her in months. It was about damn time for a reunion even though the circumstance was not really ideal.

"You know I'm here for you if you need to talk, right?" I say hoping that she already knows. I'm not so sure she does so I turn my head her way and meet her eyes to let her know I'm serious.

"I know." She lets out a heavy breath as she breaks our eye contact. "But not tonight. I just want to try to have some fun and forget this day ever happened."

"That might actually be something I can help you with." I smirk and turn my attention to the bartender. "Hey, flirty boy! Mind getting us four shots over here?"

"Coming right up!"

"Let's get wasted." I bring my beer up as a toast and she laughs doing the same.

"Sounds great!" As soon as the shots are handed to us we empty them. "Oh! I invited the others. I hope that's okay? I mean, I'm not sure if any of them are up for it but you never know." She shrugs.

"Fine by me." I have to admit that I was kind of hoping it would just be me and Quinn tonight but I want to show her I'm here to support her. And if she wants to hang with her old friends I'm not going to stand in her way. And if I'm lucky, maybe Brittany will be here too. I would definitely not mind seeing her again.

"Do you remember that time in Paris when I came to visit when you were there on tour?" Quinn asks all of a sudden and I chuckle as the memory comes back to me.

"Yeah, you mean when that French dude asked you to marry him?" I laugh before brining my beer up to my mouth.

"No, but that was fun too!" She laughs. "However, I was thinking of that girl that was hitting on you all night and you didn't get that she was a hooker!" I violently starts coughing as the mouthful of beer went down the wrong pipe. It takes me a while to recover and Quinn just laughs at me.

"I so knew she was a hooker." Is the first thing I say as I get control over my breathing again.

"You did not!" She was right, I didn't. I would never admit it though. That was embarrassing. I need to change the subject.

"Was that before or after we stole that moped from the German guy?" I look at Quinn and she thinks for a moment before answering.

"It was after." She takes a sip from the beer. "And we didn't steal it. We just borrowed it. We did park it the same place later." I laugh along with her.

"Yeah, sure. But with an empty gas tank!" We laugh hysterically at the memories for a long time before the bartender interrupts us.

"Can I get you ladies another round?"

"Yes, that would be great." I say still laughing. The laughter subsides as he puts another two beers down on the counter.

"God, I really needed this." Quinn says and gives me a smile. "Thank you for making me laugh."

"Any time."

The door to the pub opens and we both turn to see who's going to enter. I silently wish for it to be Brittany but are soon left with disappointment. I recognize the three of them though. They were at the funeral. One of them is a blonde guy with very big lips. It might be the biggest mouth I've ever seen. The other two are Asians, one girl and one boy. Quinn turns to me.

"Please behave." She scolds and I give her a shocked look.

"Don't I always?"

"More like never. But today you will. No insults. Even if they're the greatest ones you'll ever come up with." She whispers as the three are starting to get closer. "You came!" She gets up to greet them.

"Of course. I haven't been here in ages and it felt nice to do something with the gang after the day we've had." Trouty mouth speaks and hugs Quinn tightly. After they let go she hugs the other two as well before turning back to me.

"Guys, this is Santana." She motions towards me and I get up to shake their hands. "This is Sam, Tina and Mike." She continues with the introductions.

"Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." I smile at them. For Quinns sake I decide to play nice for tonight.

"Your latest record is awesome!" Guppy Lips, a.k.a. Sam, exclaims over-enthusiastically. It's really hard not to comment on it, or the fact that his lips are taking up his whole face. I put on a fake smile and answer what any normal person would.

"Thank you."

"Do you know if any of the others are coming?" Quinn asks them.

"Yeah, I think Kurt, Blaine and Rachel will be here any minute. Mercedes is probably with them too." Asian number one says. Sorry, I mean Tina.

As she says it the door swings open again and two guys enter. One of them is in a wheelchair and the other one has a mohawk. God, that's ridiculous. I watch them quietly as they greet each other before the mohawk dude turns to me. He smirks.

"Santana Lopez. I've waited forever for Quinn to introduce us." I roll my eyes and Quinn gives the guy a disapproving look.

"I could say the same, but since I have no idea who you are, I won't." I can't stop the sarcastic comeback and I look at Quinn to see if she's mad. To my surprise she laughs, and so does the other four.

"Feisty." He's still smirking as he holds out his hand to shake mine. "I'm Puck." Who the hell names their child Puck?! "Well, Noah Puckerman really, but I go by Puck." Well, that explains it. I shake his hand quickly and then he turns to the guy in the wheelchair. "And this is Artie."

"Yeah, that I actually knew! I've seen a lot of your stuff and I love it." I say and shake his hand too. See, I can be nice! Mostly because I respect talent and he's a pretty well-known director.

"Thanks!" He smile. "I love your stuff as well!" Just as the sentence is finished the next group of people walk through the door. I instantly recognize the black girl that also sang in the church. Mercedes. Then there's two guys and a girl. I'm guessing they are the people Asian number one was talking about before. The two guys are obviously gay. Even a deaf person with a blind-fold would see it. I'm also pretty sure they are together. And then there's Shorty. She already annoys me. What's with that laugh? And the voice? God, please make it stop! How the fuck am I gonna get through this night?

After another round of introductions, which I zoned out from for obvious reasons, they all ordered drinks before we went to sit down. I sit quietly and watch the group of friends interact with each other. This was probably the first time they all got together as a group since High School and I didn't feel like disturbing their little reunion. So I simply watched them.

I watched as Kurt and Rachel vividly explained to Quinn about their latest Broadway adventures. She was listening to them looking genuinely interest and happy for their success. I guess the gay couple and their sidekick Shorty all lived in New York nowadays.

I turned my attention to Trouty Mouth and the other half of the gay couple. They were discussing football. Or Trouty was. It was quite clear that Blaine was not as interested as him, but he kept up a good act. How very nice of him.

Next my attention drift to Puck, Artie and Mike. Puck is telling them all about his time in the army. He hasn't stopped talking about it for about half an hour now. I roll my eyes as he's trying to impress them with yet another story. This time it's about how one of the other G.I. Joes dropped a hand grenade and Puck had to save the day. Impressive. I doubt it's even true. My eyes shift to the bar where Mercedes and Tina are standing and talking quietly. I need another shot. That, and I'm curious to what they're talking about. I leave my seat pretty much unnoticed. Quinn sees me though, so I turn to her and point to the bar to let her know where I'm going. She nods with a smile before turning her attention back to Rachel and Kurt. I lean against the counter. The bartender sees me and moves over.

"Can you get me.." I turn to count how many we are in the group. "11 shots?"

"Sure thing!"

"Wait!" He stops to look at me curiously. "Make it 22 instead!" We need to get wasted. "And put it on my tab." I smile sweetly and he chuckles before getting on with pouring the shots. I watch him as he fills the first glass and put it on a tray, and then starts over with another one.

"Do you think Britt's gonna come?" I stop breathing when I hear Asian number one speaking about her. It takes a minute before Mercedes answers.

"I don't know."

"It's not the same without her." Another moment of silence passes between them.

"I found her outside on the porch during the reception before. She was a complete mess." I glance quickly at them and see Tina give Mercedes a small nod. I doubt she sees it though, since she's staring down at her glass. "I mean, it sucks for all of us but I can't imagine how she's feeling. It's only been a year. And in the same church too." Mercedes' voice sounds filled with anger. But not the kind of anger you feel when someone pisses you off but with the anger you feel when something is incredibly unfair. I wonder why she feels this way. What happened? Mercedes' anger is rubbing off on me.

"Here you go! 22 shots. Want me to bring them to the table?" The bartender interrupts my thoughts.

"Yeah." I say and get up from my chair to move over to the table again. "Shots for everybody!" I say loud enough for everyone to hear it and they all cheer approvingly. I see in the corner of my eye how Mercedes and Tina leaves the bar to join us.

"I'd like to make a toast!" Puck says and raises his glass and wait for everybody else to do the same. "To Finn!"

"To Finn!" They all repeat at the same time.

The night continues and glance down at my clock. Almost 11pm and I've got a good buzz going on. It seems like everybody is enjoying themselves.

"Hey Santana! Ain't you suppose to be promoting your new record now or something?" Mercedes says. She's sitting across from me. She's probably the least annoying person here and actually find myself liking her.

"The perks of being a rockstar is that I get to decide my own schedule!" I wink and she laughs.

"I bet Will is really liking your sudden vacation?" Quinn is sitting to my right. She stutters a bit on her words. Drunk Quinn is always fun. I smirk.

"Fuck him. He's a pain in my ass!"

"Who's he?" Tina asks, who's sitting beside Mercedes. It's only us four left at the table. Puck, Sam, Mike and Blaine is playing pool, and Kurt, Rachel and Artie are by the jukebox deciding on what song to play next.

"My manager." I shrug. "Oh, that reminds me! Quinn tells me you're hunting for a record label to produce you Mercedes?" She nods and takes a swig from her drink.

"Yeah, I've been sending out demos for a while now."

"Yeah? You write your own stuff?"

"You know it!"

"That's awesome! I'd love to hear it. If it's any good I could pass it on to the right people. I doubt it's bad though. Your voice is out of this world." See, here I go being nice again. I did say I respect talent, and this girl got lots of it.

"Really? You'd do that?" She happily shouts. I cringe inwardly at the loudness of her voice. She's getting drunk.

"Why not?" I shrug with a smirk. "I'm gonna go for a smoke." I motion for my jacket that's laying beside Quinn and she hands it to me. I need a break. I've been on my nicest behaviour all night, and let me tell you, it's exhausting.

I move towards the door and as I reach it I found the cigarettes in pocket. I open the door and the cold from the night hits me. Carefully I place a cigarette between my lips before putting my jacket on. Immediately after lighting it I take a deep drag which I slowly let go. I take another drag from it but this time I blow smoke rings as I let the grey smoke leave my lungs.

"You really shouldn't be smoking." A quiet voice says making me jump five feet into the air. I turn my head so fast in the direction of it that I'm afraid it might give me whiplash.

"Jesus! Fuck!" My hand goes up to my chest and lands on my heart, which is beating faster than a Skrillex song. I was so ready to kill the fucker who scared me. That was until I saw that it was her. It was Brittany. She was leaning her shoulder against the wall about eight feet from me. How did I not see her when I came out? I calm myself for a second before speaking. "You scared the shit out of me." I take a deep breath and she shrugs.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to." Is all she says. It sounds sincere but I think I notice a small smirk on her face. It's dark so I can't be sure though. I let my hand fall from my chest to my side again as I watch her watching me intently. I take another drag from the cigarette. It calms me a bit, but I can feel my heart still beating rapidly. I don't know if it's still beating hard from the near death experience I just had, or if it's the way she's looking at me right now. It's like she's trying to figure out what I'm thinking, and I'm scared she might actually be succeeding. It makes me nervous. I need to get my shit together. I'm never nervous. Averting my eyes from hers I take one last drag from the cigarette before throwing it at the ground. I look up at her again and walk the small distance to the door.

"Are you coming inside?" I say as I reach for the handle still looking at her.

"I haven't decided yet." I raise my eyebrows in surprise at her answer and let go of the handle again. Why would she come here at all if she didn't want to go inside? She sees my reaction. "I'm not sure I can handle it, you know?" I nod slowly as I have no idea what else to do. I search my brain for something to say that can at least be somewhat comforting. I'm no good in these situations. I don't deal with the hard things by talking about them. I get drunk and forget about it. Hell, my idea of supporting Quinn earlier was to get her drunk. It kinda worked though. I smirk to myself at the thought but quickly shake it away as I remember what I was trying to do. "Well, I know they all missed you and were hoping you'd come." I say it carefully hoping it was the right thing to say. I go for the handle again and open the door. I hold it open and give her my most reassuring smile.

"Okay." She says after what feels like an eternity. I let go of a breath that I didn't even know I was holding when she finally passed me in the doorway and goes inside.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - Here's chapter 3 for you! Feel free to leave a review after if you want to!  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or Ariana Grandes music, just so you know..**

* * *

**Chapter III**

As we come inside we find them all standing around the pool table watching as the game proceeds. It looks like Puck is beating Trouty. At least it sounds that way from his excessive bragging. Boys. We're getting closer to them and Quinn sees us coming and smiles happily.

"Britt! You came!" She hurries over and embraces Brittany warmly. I swear she's never been this happy to see me. After a minute or so they let go enough to be able to look into each others eyes. Quinn brings her hand to Brittanys cheek and it looks like she's brushing a tear away from it with her thumb. Again Quinn embraces her and whispers something into her ear that I can't make out, but I see Brittany gently nods to whatever it is that she says and then they let go. I see a small smile on Brittanys lips before she moves around the gang to greet them all. I'm slightly jealous of the attention they all get from her. And with slightly I obviously mean a lot.

"Okay! No more tears tonight!" Quinn declares and I couldn't agree more. I've seen enough of that today to last me a lifetime.

"Hey Joey!" Puck yells to the bartender and gets his attention. "Get us another round of shots. Make it 12 this time and put it on Lopez's tab!" My head snaps in his direction and I give him a glare but he just smiles smugly and places the cue on the table to make his next shot.

"You're lucky Quinn said no more tears today, or I'd make you cry like a little baby right now!" Some of the others laughs at my comment.

"Yeah, right Lopez! I bet you're all talk, no action." I give him a shocked look. Did he just say that? That smug little ass.

"Oh, God." Quinn sighs beside me. "Remember what I said, San?" She whispers and I turn to her.

"About behaving?" She nods and Brittany chuckles. "Hell no, that just went out the window!"

"San, please…" She begs.

"But Q, he just insulted me. It kinda goes against my whole nature to let that go." I argue with her. "And he just ordered 12 shots on my tab. Nobody does that without permission!"

"Oh please San, you can afford it!" She laughs.

"Not the point!" I say as the bartender comes around with the tray of shots. I quickly down two of them. "Everybody gets one except for Puck!" I announce to group of friends and they laugh. I throw a smirk at Puck where he stands dumbfounded. "Actually, whatever anyone orders from now on put it on my tab. Except for Puck." I direct this at the bartender and he chuckles.

"If you say so, Miss Lopez!" He winks and puts the tray down at a table beside me and everyone gathers around. Even Puck, and as he goes for one of the shots Brittany takes it before he has a chance.

"I do believe you heard her. No shots for the Puckasaurus! He has to pay for his own." She downs it and flashes me a smile. I can't help but melt inside when she does that. Ugh, what I'm a turning into?

I watch as Pucks shoulders slump and he turns the bar to order himself something. I laugh at the broken man.

"You're mean." Quinn says.

"What?! That was probably the nicest I've ever been to someone who pretty much just called me a coward!" I say seriously, because it's true.

"Still… Behave yourself." She says with a stern look and I roll my eyes.

"Yes, mother!" Now it's her turn to roll her eyes at me before walking away to sit down with the others. I turn to Brittany who's smiling.

"What are you smiling about?" I ask with a chuckle.

"You guys are funny." She says with a shake of her head before joining the others too. I savor the feeling I get when I succeed to make her smile again.

The night carries on and everyone is having a good time. I've been stealing glances at Brittany since she came and I think even she's enjoying herself. She's had a few drinks and looks a bit tipsy. She's in good company. The majority of the group are pretty wasted by now. I take a quick look at them all. We are scattered around the room again. Artie, Sam and Blaine are playing dart, Mercedes and Rachel are arguing about who's the biggest diva and me Quinn and Kurt are sitting by the table. Right now I have no idea what they're talking about as I zoned out a while ago. My eyes then drift back to her. She's playing pool with Puck, Mike and Tina. God, she's gorgeous. She's not wearing the same outfit as in the church. Now she has on a pair of skinny black jeans and a knitted brown sweater. She has topped the outfit with a black beanie and her hair is hanging loosely under it. Plain and simple, but she looks perfect. I don't notice that she's been watching me while I blatantly check her out until I finally look up at her face. Oh, shit! Afraid that I might have overstepped the boundaries I look away quickly. Had it been any other girl I would've probably just flashed them a cocky smirk and maybe even thrown in a wink. That usually seals the deal and I'd have them right where I want them. But for some reason I believe that it would never work on her. She'd see right through it. As I turn my eyes from her I also turn to the left towards Kurt in an attempt to look like I'm involved in the conversation he's having with Quinn. During the quick turn however, I manage to tip my half empty beer bottle over and the remaining content ends up at the table. My fucking God. I want to slap myself.

"What the fuck Santana!" Quinn exclaims as the beer is running down into her lap. She quickly stands and backs away from the table. "I'm gonna smell like beer now!"

"You already did." She gives me a angry look. "Calm down Fabray, I didn't do it on purpose!" As I say it I throw a glance Brittanys way, and I can see that she's trying to contain a smile as she presses her lips together. Oh, I see. She enjoys my mishap. Maybe she's enjoying it a little too much. I smile and can't help but think that I'd happily continue doing clumsy stuff if it means it'll get her to smile more.

"You find this funny ass-hat?" Quinn asks and I can't help but let out a laugh. I know she's not really as mad as she sounds.

"It's a little funny that you can't come up with a better insult than ass-hat." I laugh again and she squints her eyes at me. "I mean really Q, come on! I know you can do better than that!"

"You suck!" Is all she says before moving around the table and heads towards the bathroom. But not before she slaps me hard on the shoulder as she walks by me.

"You hit like a girl!" I yell after her and she spins around.

"Was that meant to offend me?" She pauses but don't give me a chance to respond before she continues. "'Cause the only thing offending me right now is your face!" She smirks and carry on towards the bathroom. I chuckle.

"There's the Quinn I know and love." I say to Kurt who's just staring at us.

Another half an hour passes along with another round of shots. I need to stop drinking now. If I don't, I'll cross the line and become borderline crazy and there's no telling what could happen then. I usually don't see that as a problem but it can't happen here. I hate to admit that Quinn's right, but I need to behave. As weird as it sounds, I actually want to behave for once. And it has everything to do with Brittany. I'm leaning at the bar counter watching the group. I wonder if this is how they were as teenagers. Quinn told me that she hasn't seen most of them since graduation almost seven years ago, but looking at them now it seemed like no time had passed at all. It was kind of the same with me and Quinn. We met first day of Law School. Yes, I went to Law School. For almost a whole year. I dropped out the same day I got my record deal. Law School was never something I did because I wanted to, but because my parents wanted me to. The same day I got the record deal and left school was also the last day I talked to my parents. They said if I wanted to stray of the path they had laid out for me I'd have to do it on my own. Without their support or money. So I did. And the joke's on them, because I fucking made a name for myself and now I have more money than they could ever dream of. I never needed them back then and I definitely don't need them now six years later. Anyways, Quinn did however finish Law School and she's fucking amazing at her job. Today she's the co-owner of Fabray and Karofsky law firm. Dave Karofsky. He's a fucking ass but he's damn good at his job. Not better than Quinn, but close enough. God knows the both of them have gotten me out of some complicated situations. So yeah, we met that first day at Columbia University and have been friends ever since. We both still live in New York so we see each other as often we can. Lately it has been less often since we're both pretty busy and I'm rarely in New York for more than a couple of days at the time. It's a hectic life being a rockstar. I've released four records in six years, and I'm already half-way through writing the next one even though I just released my latest a month ago.

"Do you want something more to drink?" The bartender interrupts my thoughts and I turn to him shaking my head.

"Nah, I'm good." I look down at my watch. Half past one. "Weren't you suppose to close like half an hour ago?" I frown at him and he shrugs.

"It's fine. You guys can stay as long as you want. I know those guys had a rough day." He says and looks over at the group. It's only now I notice that we are the only ones that are still here. I wonder when Cowboy Hat and Beard left.

"Besides, this is good business for being a Sunday." He winks at me and I roll my eyes.

"So you're taking advantage of the grieving people? How very douchy."

"Technically, I'm taking advantage of you since you're the one paying."

"Wouldn't be the first time someone does that." I mutter under my breath.

"What? Did you say something?"

"Nope." I say as I push myself off the counter that I was leaning against. I move over to the pool table where Quinn and Brittany are. They had just started a game maybe five minutes ago and I'm hoping Quinn will lose. She's a really sore loser which is entertaining. Also, I don't wanna miss the opportunity of watching Brittany up-close when she's leaning over the table to make a shot. Her ass looks fucking amazing in those tight jeans. Quinn's going around the table to find that perfect shot as I approach them. Brittany has her back against me.

"How's it going?" I whisper. My lips are at the most an inch away from her ear and I notice the faint scent of her perfume. After I said it I move my face away a little but not enough to leave her personal space. I watch her for a reaction to that I'm this close to her but there barely is one. A small smile. That's all. And it's quickly gone when she presses her lips together. Her eyes don't leave the pool table. I was definitely hoping for something more.

"I'm losing." I turn my face to look at the table but don't move the rest of my body away from her. I don't know if it's all in my head but I'm pretty sure I'm close enough to feel her body heat. Quinn just made her fourth ball in a row go into one of the pockets of the table. Brittany was indeed losing. Too bad.

"I can see that." I smirk and turn my eyes back at her. "I think you need a better strategy." She chuckles and meet my eyes for a brief second before turning her attention back at the table.

"What's the point? I haven't even gotten a chance to play yet."

"Exactly. That strategy will get you nowhere." She laughs as Quinn makes her fifth shot.

"It's not like I chose it."

"You did when you let her start. But now we're changing strategy." Brittany turns to me again with a smile. She just stares at me for a couple of seconds. When she brings out the tip of her tongue to slowly wet her lips I groan inwardly and can't help but look down at them.

"We're? We're a team now?" She says and my eyes immediately goes up to meet hers again. Damn. I'm pretty sure she saw me staring at her lips. I need to get my shit together.

I bring my index finger up to my lips.

"Shh, it's a secret." I say with a wink before moving away from her. I walk a little closer to Quinn and watch as she get ready to make the next shot. Just when she's about to make her it…

"OH MY GOD!" I scream and she fumbles, of course. The white ball misses its target. Mission accomplished. I'm about to start laughing but force myself to stay in character. "Was that Brent?" I exclaim and point out the window. Her eyes go wide and she turns to where I'm pointing. Brent was this crazy dude she dated a year ago. He was a real creep, and she broke it off just after a couple of weeks but he stalked her for months. I am not kidding. He was everywhere, and eventually she got a restraining order against him. It's not like he was dangerous, he just didn't give up. But yes, I'm an ass for pretending he's outside right now but the look on her face is priceless. Mad Quinn is about to come out and play. If he actually were here she'd probably kill him.

"What? Are you kidding me?!" She marches up to the window and look outside. "Where? Where did you see him?" She half yells, and I realize I hadn't planned for more than saying that he was here so now I have to come up with something fast. I walk up beside her to look outside too. There's a man standing about 50 yards away on the other side of the street.

"There he is!" I say and point to him. I'm kind of lucky it's dark outside and the guy standing there could actually pass as Brent. I don't believe in God but I silently thank someone for being on my side right now. Maybe my karma isn't that bad after all. Quinn turns her eyes in the direction I was pointing and inspects the guy for a minute.

"No, I'm pretty sure that's not him. He looks shorter, right?" She turns to me for agreement and I study the guy for a moment to make it look like I was thinking about it.

"Yeah, you're probably right. It doesn't look like him. I'm sorry." I say with a shrug and then turn back to the pool table and quickly scan it for an easy shot for Brittany now that it's her turn. After finding what she should go for my eyes travel to hers and I see that she's watching me with an amused smile.

"You're mean" She just mouths it so that Quinn won't hear but I get it anyway and respond with a smirk before point to the ball she should go for. She looks down at it and gets the message. Quinn then leaves the window and her attention is back at the pool table and her opponent.

"I'm sorry Britt. I didn't mean to leave the game! That guy has been following me around everywhere so I just had to see if it was him. Well, you already know… I told you about him!" She says drunkenly and stumble over her words to get the sentences out. I chuckle at her. It's a good thing she's not sober 'cause otherwise she'd see right through the lie about Brent I just told. Brittany just shrugs with a smile before speaking.

"It's fine. My turn right?" Quinn nods quickly to confirm it. Brittany goes for the ball I pointed out before and finally I get the chance to just watch her lean over the table while she's aiming. This must be my lucky night. A fucking perfect view. I'm too busy staring at her to see that her fails to get the ball into the pocket.

"Damn, that was so close!" Brittany exclaim and Quinn laughs. My attention is back at the table.

"I'm sorry Britt, but that was not close." Quinn snickers and Brittany just smiles.

"Close enough. It's my first time playing!" She says with a proud smile. It was like what she just managed to do was a one of the greatest accomplishment ever. I can't help but smile too. She's too cute for words.

"Well, you're making it an easy game!" Quinn says with a victorious smile as she goes for her next shot. Hell no, I'm not going to let her win that easily. She's probably going to see through my next move though. I walk up close to her casually from behind, and just as she's goes for the shot I walk into to the cue as she's about to make the stroke. My movement could be seen as something I did because I was drunk so that's what I'm going for. My goal is to at least give Brittany a chance to be a part of the game. Anything to make her smile again like she just did.

"What the fuck San?" Quinn yells and I look down at the floor to seem like I just tripped over something. When I see that I have nothing to blame the pretend accident on I come up with the next best excuse.

"Fuck! I'm drunk. Sorry..." I say looking up at her and blink my eyes a couple of times before bringing my hands up to my eyes to rub and then I give myself a couple of small slaps on each of my cheeks as a sign of that I'm trying to get myself together. She eyes me suspiciously.

"Yeah right…" She says. I know she's on to me. Obviously. Brittany chuckles on the other side of the table which doesn't really help my case. I roll my eyes at her when Quinn turns her back to us to take a sip out of her drink. The eye rolling only makes Brittany chuckle more so I decide to help her with her next play in the game.

"You should go for this one Britt." I point to a ball and she nods but is still looking at me with a smile. Quinns voice interrupts our gaze.

"Hell no! You're not allowed to help her!" I look to Quinn with a frown.

"Why not?"

"You're too good and I wanna win this!" She whines and I laugh at her.

"The only reason you're winning this is because I taught you how to play. Besides, it's not like I'm playing. I'm just helping, from the sideline." We stare at each other for a couple of seconds.

"Alright." She grunts. "I know you did that on purpose before. Just so you know!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"With the cue. You walked into me on purpose so stop pretending." I laugh.

"Alright, alright! You got me!" I say and raise my hands in surrender. "I just wanted to be close to you babe. You know I can't resist you." I say with a smug smirk.

"Oh, please. You will never get with this." She says motioning with her hands to her body. I laugh out loud at this because that's actually what I did one time during college and let me tell you, it wasn't that special.

"That's funny 'cause I remember that one…"

"Shut it Santana, and help Britt instead!" I continue to laugh but do as she says.

"Okay Britt, let's turn this shit around!"

20 minutes later the game was over. And we didn't turn it around. Quinn won, but Brittany did catch up with a little help from me pointing out what to do. Quinn did her victory dance when she managed to get the last ball into the pocket she was aiming for, making me and Brittany laugh at her.

"Too bad Britt, I was really rooting for you!"

"It's fine. I don't really care about winning." She shrugs with a smile. "It's nice to see her this happy." We watched as Quinn danced her way over to Sam and Mike who started dancing and laughing with her. The stereo was playing some old rock song with The Rolling Stones.

"So you and Quinn uh?" Brittany says with a smirk and my head snap in her direction.

"Me and Quinn what?" I say pretending to be confused.

"You used to sleep together?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that." I smirk and she laughs.

"I don't think you have to." I turn my eyes to meet hers. She's smiling amusedly. I quickly get lost in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Whatever." I say with a small smile and breaks our gaze. "It was once, we were drunk and it was a mistake." I don't know why I feel the sudden need to explain my actions. I never do that. I cringe inwardly when I hear the intro to my latest single start bursting through the speakers. I hope no one will notice, but realize that it's hopeless to hope for that. Quinns turns to me with a huge smile having heard the intro too. She jumps right in to sing along when the first verse starts and she dances towards me.

_If you want it, take it.  
I should've said it before.  
Tried to hide it, fake it.  
I can't pretend anymore._

She grabs my hands and spins me around. "I fucking love this song San!" She yells over the music before singing along again while she's trying to get me to join her. I don't know why but I suddenly feel very self-conscious about my music. It's a very unfamiliar feeling, and I don't like it.

_I only wanna die alive.  
Never by the hands of a broken heart.  
Don't wanna hear you lie tonight.  
Now that I've become who I really are._

When Quinn can't get me to join her she moves over to Brittany beside me instead. She's already started to dance with a smile on her lips so it wasn't a problem for Quinn to get her to participate in the show she had started. Brittany turns to me as the chorus starts. She gives me a wink as she sings the first line to me while poking in me in the chest a couple of times. My jaw drops in mock hurt.

_This is the part when I say I don't want ya.  
I'm stronger than I've been before.  
This is the part when I break free.  
'Cause I can't resist it no more.  
_

I pray that she's not too serious 'cause damn it, I want her. She's so fucking sexy. As the chorus starts over she turns to dance with Quinn again. Now I see Rachel, Tina, Kurt and Mercedes coming up to join them too and I chuckle as the six of them stands in a small circle dancing and singing. They are all pretty good dancers, but Brittany is by far the best. She moves so naturally like this is what she was born to do. It's mesmerizing to watch and I can't tear my eyes away. As the second verse starts I follow Brittany as she dances up to Trouty Mouth that was standing by watching with the other guys. She runs her hand slowly down his chest while she sings the first part.

_You were better, deeper.  
I was under your spell.  
Like a deadly fever, yeah, babe.  
On the highway to hell, yeah._

Ugh, I hate him. And I hate the jealous feeling that he's causing me to suffer through. I don't do jealous. Brittany moves away from Lips and then does the same hand movement on Mikes chest. The jealousy I was feeling almost disappears as soon as she left Trouty for Mike. Maybe because I know he's dating Tina. I shake the feeling as I see Brittany drag Mike with her to the circle where the others are dancing. Mike is a damn good dancer too. I watch as Mercedes and Rachel belt out the next part. I chuckle at how totally into it they all are.

_I only wanna die alive.  
Never by the hands of a broken heart.  
Don't wanna hear you lie tonight.  
Now that I've become who I really are._

As the chorus comes up again the rest of the guys join in to sing and dance. Puck pulls Quinn up at a table to dance there. I quickly look to the bar to see if the bartender is going to break up the fun now. I kind of don't want him to since it's entertaining to watch the group. However, I'm still a bit embarrassed over the fact that it's my song. The bartender sees that I'm looking but just shrugs his shoulders and returns to wiping the bar-counter.

_This is the part when I say I don't want ya.  
I'm stronger than I've been before.  
This is the part when I break free.  
'Cause I can't resist it no more.  
_

I laugh out loud during the second part of the chorus as they are all jumping in sync with the music and screaming the lyrics. It sounds good though. Quinn looks over to me during after the chorus ends and the instrumental break starts.

"The next part is yours!" She yells with a smile, and I shake my head no in response. She jumps down from the table. "Yes! I know you want to!" She smiles and points to me with both her index fingers. I chuckle at her and see that everybody else joins her and wants me to do the next part. Oh, why the hell not?

Thought on your body.

_I came alive.  
It was lethal.  
It was fatal.  
In my dreams it felt so right.  
But I woke up every time.  
Oh, baby._

We all start singing the last chorus of the song together jumping around. I can't remember the last time I had this fun goofing around. Hell, I can't even remember the last time I goofed around. Everything was pretty much just business or partying with me. Sure, I had fun partying but this was not the same kind of fun. This was more relaxing.

_This is the part when I say I don't want ya  
I'm stronger than I've been before  
This is the part when I break free  
'Cause I can't resist it no more_

Everybody is laughing when the song ends. Puck high-fives Mike, Sam and Artie.

"Just like High School. We still got it!" I hear him say proudly. The bartender turns down the stereo after the song ends. I think it's a nice way of saying that we need to calm down a bit.

"Of course the old Glee Club had to choose one of my songs for their reunion performance…" I say to them all with smirk and a head shake. "And I'm only slightly upset that you guys did it better." All of them laugh out loud.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - So here's another chapter! I'd like to thank everybody for the favorites and follows, and a special thanks to those who took the time to review. I really appreciate it! Please keep it coming, you motivate me so damn much! :)  
**

**And I just have to address the guest who left a review with very strong opinions. I get it dude, you're angry. I would be too if an author of a fic here was holding a gun to my head forcing me to read something I didn't want to read. I would be fucking furious! I mean seriously, how very rude of me! If only I knew your name and where you live I'd definitely send a formal apology letter for upsetting you so much with my writing... Or probably not. Kidding aside though, if you're trying to provoke me or something please continue 'cause that review was awesome and made me laugh for two days straight! So thanks, I hope you're well and that you keep on reading! ;) **

**I promise I'm very close to the end of this A/N now, just the formality if disclaiming everything about the everything left! And now that's done, so here we go!**

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**Chapter IV**

I wake up groaning. My eyes feel like they are impossible to open. I force myself to anyway and I'm met with darkness. I'm also met with a thousand questions, like where am I? What time is it? Am I hungover? Or maybe I'm still drunk? Did I do any drugs last night? Was I roofied? Again? How the hell did I get to where I am? And again, where the fuck is that? And why the hell does the bed keep vibrating? I groan again and roll from my side to my back with a heavy sigh. Everything slowly comes back to me. My eyes are adjusting to the dark and I realize that I'm in the bed at the hotel room. Well, that's one question answered. Good for me. And it must be early since it's still dark. I don't think I'm hungover, and I'm definitely not still drunk. Aside from being exhausted I feel pretty great actually. So that definitely means I didn't do any drugs and nobody roofied me. I laugh a bit at myself. Who the hell would have roofied me last night? I was hanging with the Gleeks damn it. They're all like, nice and shit. Even Puck. Right, Puck! He walked me and Quinn back to the hotel last night. Or more like this morning. Damn, I guess I managed to answer most of my questions, which almost never happens for me after a party. God job me! I mentally pat myself on the shoulder. Oh God, there's that annoying vibration of the bed again! Where is it coming from? Oh, fuck! It's my phone. Who the hell is calling this early? I search around in my bed with my left hand until I come in contact with it. I answer without looking who it is.

"Yeah!"

"_Good morning to you too!_" Quinn's way too happy and loud voice invade my ear and I grimace at it. "_How are you feeling today?_"

"You woke me up." I grumble.

"_Well, get up then! You have about 20 minutes._" 20 minutes until what? I search my brain trying to remember if we made any plans last night but I come up empty. My only plan for today was to stay in bed and do nothing.

"What happens in 20 minutes Quinn?" I ask her annoyed.

"_We're meeting the gang for breakfast._"

"Breakfast?" I'm confused. I cannot remember agreeing to something that stupid. "What time is it?"

"_Hm.. about 10._" She says calmly. What the actual fuck?

"As in the morning?" I say surprised and sit up quickly. Quinn chuckles.

"_Yes, that is usually the time of the day when people eat breakfast._"

"Are you kidding me? We went to bed like four hours ago! When did I agree to this?" I throw my covers off me and scramble out of bed. I stumble over something on the floor when I'm trying to find my way to the bathroom in the darkness. The fuck was that? I can't see shit!

"_I'm not kidding you, and you didn't agree to it. It's not an option._"

"I figured as much." I mumble. I finally find the handle to the bathroom door. I open it and fumble around for the light switch. When the bright light comes on I flinch and close my eyes tightly. I bring my free hand up to cover my eyes and then slowly open them. I only let a little light make its way past my hand so I can adjust to the sudden brightness.

"_What?_" Quinn asks and her voice sounds muffled. I think she's brushing her teeth.

"Nothing. Are you coming by my room to get me?"

"_Yeah, I'll be there in 15!_" Well fuck me, I need to hurry!

"Fine!" I sigh and hang up the phone before tossing it on the bathroom counter and hoping in the shower.

15 minutes later I'm putting on my black knee high boots. They go well with the tight dress and leather jacket I'm wearing. I silently hope Brittany is going to be there because I look smoking hot. Another quick look in the mirror to confirm it, and then there's a knock on the door. When I open it I reveal a smiling Quinn. Well, she's not smiling at me. She's looking down at her phone so I'm guessing whoever she's talking to is the source of her smile. Hmm, I need to find out who that is.

"You're looking very smiley today." I smirk and she finally looks up at me. She does a quick scan of my body before meeting my eyes.

"And you're looking very… dressed up?" She eyes me suspiciously.

"Yeah you know, it's springtime and I love spring fashion." I say with a shrug.

"Yeah? You sure you're not trying to impress anybody special?" She asks with her eyebrows raised.

"Pssh… I have no need to impress anyone."

"If you say so Lopez."

"I do. So let's go!" I say and walk past her bringing the door with me to close it. "So… texting anybody special, smiley?"

"Nah, just Sam." She says still smiling. I knew she had a thing for Big Lips.

"Mhm… So, who's coming to this damn breakfast I didn't agree to partake in?" I say as we approach the elevator.

"Sam, Kurt, Blaine, Mercedes and Artie is meeting us there. Probably Puck too." Damn it. She didn't mention Brittany.

"What about the others?" I say trying to make it sound like I'm just generally curious.

"Hmm, no I don't think so. Rachel went back to New York for her Broadway show, and Mike and Tina went back home to Columbus." She says as the elevator stops at the first floor and she walks out. Did she purposely leave Brittany out? I realize that she's walking away from me and that the elevator doors are about to close again so I put my arm between the doors. When they open enough for me to go through them I hurry to catch up to her and she gives me a look.

"No, she's probably not coming Santana."

"What? Who?" I ask in mock confusion and she rolls her eyes at me.

"Brittany, of course. I know you have a thing for her."

"I do not have a thing for her! I don't have things for people at all!" I say defensively.

"Oh no, right! I forgot! You don't do feelings." She mocks me, and it's my turn to roll my eyes. Damn right I don't! Feelings are for weak people. I only do attraction and sex. I mean, they kinda go hand in hand. And after sleeping with the object of the attraction it usually disappears. Been there done that. Literally. No need for repetition. Therefore, no relationships, no promises about being faithful. Nothing like that. Why being with only one person when you can mix it up, you know? And yeah, attraction, that is what I feel towards Brittany. A lot of it! I just need to find a way to get it out of my system. Then that attraction will disappear again. Hopefully. I do not have a thing for her.

"So… Why is she not coming?" Quinn chuckles and puts her sunglasses on as we leave the hotel and the bright sun hits us. Damn it, why didn't I bring my sunglasses.

"I think she'll be with her sister today." She says with a shrug and a small smile. I think the smile is suppose to seem genuine, but there's a sadness to it. Why would she be sad that Brittany is hanging with her sister? Whatever. She's probably just down because she won't be hanging with us.

After a short walk we reach the restaurant and find that they others are already there.

"Hi guys! Have you ordered yet?" Quinn says as she sits down beside Mercedes leaving me to sit at the last empty spot in the booth beside Trouty. Just my luck.

"No, we waited for you!" Kurt says happily.

"Ugh, keep your voice down love." Blaine is leaning his head on his arms that are crossed on the table.

"Someone's hungover?" I chuckle at him and he looks up at me.

"Worst hangover ever." He answers and buries his head in his arms again. "Thanks for that, by the way." I laugh with the others.

"It was my pleasure!" I say a little louder than necessary and he cringes. "Though, I didn't force you to drink." He just mumbles something as a young waitress comes around.

"Can I get you started with something to drink?" She asks with a smile as she looks up from her notepad at Quinn. She goes around the table and takes everybody's order. When she turns to me lastly her eyes go wide when she realizes who I am. "Oh, wow.." She whispers but it's loud enough for all of us to hear. The others chuckles a little and I just smile genuinely at her. She stares for a couple of seconds before trying to gather herself. "I... um... eh…" She clears her throat before starting over again. "What can I get you, Miss Lopez?" She asks nervously as her eyes flicker between her notepad and my eyes. I glance at her nametag before answering.

"Just water will be fine Nathalie." I smile and the young waitress blushes before quickly scribbling the order down.

"Okay, I'll be right back with your drinks." She says hurriedly and disappears. I chuckle at her quick exit.

"She was hot!" Puck says when she's gone and everybody gives him a skeptic look. "What? She was!" He says defensively. "I'd tap that if I didn't think she was more into the ladies." He winks at me and Trouty Mouth laughs. I roll my eyes at them.

"You guys are disgusting." Quinn says with a head shake which makes Trouty stop laughing. Whipped. "And what makes you think she's gay?" Quinn asks Puck and he shrugs with a smirk.

"Just the look she gave Lopez."

"Oh, please Puckerman! If that look told you she was gay then all my fans are gay, which I highly doubt. She's not gay, she's just a normal fan."

"Nah, I'm telling you, she's totally into you."

"Of course she is! I mean, have you seen me? Everybody wants a piece of this." I say motioning to my body. "But that doesn't make them gay. And besides, she's like in High School."

"So?" He asks with a frown.

"So she's way too young. Believe it or not, but there are some lines I won't cross."

"Oh, really?" He replies surprised and I glare at him.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Just that I read somewhere about…" He doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence before I interrupt him.

"Oh, so you can read? I wasn't so sure you could!" I give him a smug smile and he stares at me for a couple of seconds before releasing a scoff.

"Good one Lopez! But at least I'm not the main source of income for every magazine in this country. I mean, without your scandals and the shit you pull they would all be forced to go bankrupt." He retorts. I clench my jaw when anger builds up inside me.

"Fuck you Puckerman!"

"Okay, everybody calm down now before this gets out of hand!" Quinn interjects before I can say anything more. She gives Puck a pointed look and he leans back in his seat after a few seconds. A moment of silence passes and Nathalie returns with our drinks.

"Have you guys decided what you want to eat?" She asks. She gives me a nervous glance before turning her attention to Quinn instead.

"No, I think we need another couple of minutes." Quinn answers with a smile. The waitress nods and disappears again. The silence is back for another moment.

"I'm sorry Santana." Puck suddenly speaks up and I turn my eyes to his. "I don't know you and your background so I shouldn't be saying shit like that." I nod my head in agreement.

"No, you're right. You don't know me." I start slowly. "But you're kinda right. They would go bankrupt without me." I smirk at him and he laughs. I see Quinn roll her eyes at me and the others soon join in and laughs too.

"Damn! I was sure there for a second that a full fist fight would break out!" Artie says with a laugh and I just shrug. If Quinn hadn't put an end to it I probably would've punched him in his smug face.

Breakfast turned into lunch since we sat there for hours. For the last 30 minutes I've been talking with Artie about his career and the work he's done. He's mostly done documentaries and a couple of indie short films. I find the film industry very interesting so it's been nice getting an insight to it. It's not hard to see that he's very passionate about what he does for a living.

"We should do something together in the future!" I say excitedly.

"Like a film? Or a documentary on your life! Your fans would love that!" I laugh and shake my head slightly.

"No, I doubt that would be any fun to watch. I was more thinking that you should be the director of my next music video."

"Yeah? What song are you doing a video for next?"

"I think they want me to do Die Young, but I'm not sure. It's on my latest record, maybe you've heard it?" I ask as Nathalie places the glass of wine I just ordered in front of me. I watch as she puts another two glasses down for Quinn and Mercedes, and then hands a beer to Puck.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to have missed it. It's in the top five of the charts right now!" He says with a laugh.

"Is it?" I say surprised. I guess Will took me seriously when I told him not to call me unless it was an emergency.

"You didn't know?" Artie chuckles and fixes his glasses.

"No, I told my manager not to call me." He gives me a questioning look. "He was being an ass about me taking a vacation." I explain and he nods understanding.

"Hey Artie!" Puck suddenly exclaims to get his attention. "When are you going back to L.A.?" He asks him and I zone out from the conversation as they start talking about their trip back. I put my elbow on the table and place my chin in my palm as I turn my head to my right where Big Lips and the Gaysters are talking about… something. I don't know. I don't really care, I just pretend to be listening. I should call Jennifer later and see what's been going on with my record. And it would be interesting to get Artie to direct the next video. Though, it might not really be his thing. An upbeat dance song music video is really different from what he's been doing before. But it could be fun and maybe he's interested in doing something different. I should talk to him some more about it. Damn, I should really call my choreographer Jesse St. James too, and see if they have starting rehearsing for the tour. They probably have. And I should definitely head to the gym tomorrow. I've been slacking lately. My train of thoughts are interrupted by the whispering voice of Mercedes.

"Where's Brittany?" The question is directed at Quinn and I wouldn't have heard it at all if it wasn't for the name mentioned. It's been constantly on my mind for about 24 hours and I can't seem to shake it.

"I'm guessing at the hospital." Quinn whispers back. I can't help but react to it and I glance their way, which Quinn sees. She meets my eyes for a brief second and I feel like I'm intruding on a private conversation so I quickly turn my attention back to where it was before. Again, only to pretend to be listening as I want to hear what the girls says next. "Let's not talk about it now." Quinn says quietly. I clench my jaw a couple of times in frustration. Why would Quinn tell me Brittany is with her sister when she's obviously not? Why is she at the hospital? Is she hurt? She seemed fine last night. Is her sister sick? Or another family member maybe? Why am I so damn obsessed with this? I shouldn't care. I don't even know her. I let out a sigh.

"Are you okay?" I snap out of my thoughts and see Trouty looking at me expectantly.

"I'm fine Tr… eh, Sam." I say a little harshly. I look at Quinn and she's giving me the look. The one that tells me to play nice. I roll my eyes at her and get up from my seat.

"I'm just gonna go make some calls." I announce but don't wait for anybody to respond. I pick up my phone from my handbag and walk outside as to call Jennifer. She picks up almost immediately.

"_Best assistant in the world speaking._" I roll my eyes with a laugh.

"Is that how you answer everybody?"

"_Nope. Just the best boss in the world._"

"Suck up." She laughs.

"_How's it going in Lima?_"

"It's going. What's the latest at headquarters? Did Zizes kill the rumour about the hooker?"

"_Yep! She killed the hooker. I mean, the rumour of the hooker. But sometimes I worry about that PR manager of yours. She's scary. And I'm not really sure how far that woman will go to get something done. And was it really a rumour?_" I chuckle at her thoughts of Lauren and I have to agree. She's fucking terrifying.

"Like I would need to pay someone to sleep with me." I say with a cocky smirk even though I know she can't see it.

"_Whatever. Congratz on being back in the top five!_"

"Yeah, thanks. I heard about it from one of Quinn's friends. Where are we at?"

"_You're at third, and didn't Will call you?_"

"I told him to fuck off, or talk to you."

"_Well good for you! I didn't know that though so that's why I didn't call you about the chart. And he's been calling me like crazy about the most unnecessary things. But you can trust that I'll call you if anything important enough comes up!_"

"It's fine, I trust you." I say smiling.

"_Good. I have something. It's not that important but your tour manager scheduled another 3 concerts. They're all squeezed in within the six weeks you're already on the road._"

"So now it's like 36 concerts in 42 days?" I say with a sigh and she just hums in agreement. "That's gonna be insane."

"_Yeah… Well, they can still fill the last remaining days so be prepared._"

"Hell no! Call Schuester and tell him that I won't agree to any more. And tell him I said it's not up for discussion. And also, who's the tour manager this time?"

"Um… Let me check!" She says and I hear how she puts down the phone and disappears for a couple of minutes. I take my cigarette pack out of my handbag and light one up while I wait for her to return. "_Sorry, took a while to find the papers. Um… His name is Chris Adams. What do you want with him?_"

"I want him castrated for scheduling that many concerts in six weeks but I can't do that, can I?" I say sarcastically and Jennifer laughs.

"_No, no you can't. But I can check with Zizes if she's up for the job!_" I chuckle and inhale a breath of smoke from the cigarette.

"That would be fun to see. But no, get him to email me the schedule asap."

"_Alright! Anything else?_"

"Yeah, I want Jesse to start filming the dance routines and send it to me so I know what's going on and can be prepared."

"_You got it! Will is gonna want you to come and rehearse with them before the tour so you know._"

"Yeah, I know. We can book the ticket next week."

"_Okay. Was that all?_"

"No, one more thing."

"_Yeah, what?"_ She asks when I don't continue immediately.

"Go home. There's no need for you to be at the office to make those calls." She laughs.

"_So bossy! But you don't have to tell me twice. I'll talk to you later!_"

"Yeah, later!" I hang up the phone before taking a last drag of the cigarette and putting it out. I walk inside to sit by Sam again who turns to me when I take my seat.

"Nicer now that you've had your nicotine dosage?" He asks with a smirk and I narrow my eyes at him.

"Not really. But I'm a very good actress." I answer before flashing him a bright smile. "So Sam, tell my how your day has been so far? Are you flirting methods getting anywhere with my best friend over here?" I point my thumb towards Quinn who shoots me a glare. Sam just shifts his gaze between me and Quinn with a dumbstruck look. I hear Mercedes and Artie chuckle in the background. "I'm gonna take that as a no." Content about the accomplishment of making Guppys face looking even more stupid than it normally does I turn my attention towards Artie on my left side while completely ignoring the daggers Quinn is shooting at me.

"So what's in the future for you? Any projects in the works?"

"No, not until the beginning of summer. I'm gonna go back to Los Angeles with Puck at the end of this week to finish up a couple of things. Then I'm going back here for a vacation. I need a break from L.A. I think."

"Okay, I see. So you're pretty much free until summer?"

"Yeah, why? Were you serious about the music video?" He asks with an excited smile.

"Yeah, for sure! I guess it's not really your scene but I love the idea of having someone with actual competence direct it than the fucking idiots I normally work with."

"Thanks I guess." He says with a laugh. "Are you staying here in Lima during your vacation?"

"Yeah, I'm staying as long as Quinn is."

"Alright, we should talk when I get back then!" He says with a smile which I return.

"Sounds great."

Another half an hour passes before the Gaysters announces that they are heading back to their hotel. They say their goodbyes and leave. I glance at my watch. It's already 5pm.

"Do you want to get out of here too, Quinn?"

"I don't know. Do you?" I shrug because it really doesn't matter what we do.

"Do you guys have anything planned?" Quinn ask the others. Puck shakes his head no in response and Artie does the same.

"I promised my parents I'd come to dinner tonight so I need to head out soon." Trouty Mouth answers. Quinn nods and I can see on her face that she's a bit disappointed. I, for one, is kind of glad he's leaving soon because I don't know how much longer I can go without pointing out that his mouth to face ratio is way off.

"What about you 'Cedes?" Quinn turns her attention to Mercedes.

"I'm down with staying here if you guys want to?"

"Okay, it's settled then. We're staying for dinner too." I state and everybody agrees. Well, except for Guppy Face. "It'll be nice for Puck to feel like he's the main source of income for something in his life too when he pays the check later!" I smirk at him. "Even if it's just for a small restaurant in little Lima, and not every magazine in the country." I give him a wink before taking a sip of my wine.

"I thought Quinn told you to behave last night." I almost choke on the sip I just took when I hear her voice. Brittany. Just the sound of it sends shivers down my spin, and I think it might be impossible for me to ever forget what it sounds like. I quickly discard that thought though, because that's just ridiculous. I slowly turn around towards the voice and I see her standing behind Artie. She's giving me a small smile but it doesn't reach her eyes. My eyes are fixated on hers. It looks like she's been crying. I frown and she breaks eye contact. Everyone's attention is directed at her now. I don't have time to come up with a response to what she just said before Quinn gets up to greet her.

"We didn't think you'd come today?" Quinn says after hugging her, and I see that Brittany is holding a takeaway bag in her left hand. I'm pretty sure she didn't come to stay.

"No, I'm not staying. Just got takeout." She says holding up the bag to show everybody. "I'm heading back home now. Have you guys been here since breakfast?"

"Yeah, they are staying for dinner too but I'm leaving now." Trouty Mouth answers and motion for me to move so that he can get out of the booth. "Are you walking?" He asks her when he's on his feet beside her. She only nods her head in reply, and I sit back down. "Okay, I can walk you then. It's on my way." He says with a happy smile on his enormous lips. I inwardly roll my eyes.

"Sure." She says quietly to him before turning her attention back at the four of us left at the table. "It was nice seeing you again, Santana." She says giving me another small smile. I love it when she smiles at me, but I hate that she looks so fucking sad. I just wish I could take it all away somehow. I smile back at her holding her gaze.

"You too, Britt." Her smile brightens for a moment before fading again as she shifts her eyes from me.

"Well… I guess I'll see you guys around." With that she turns around to leave with Guppy following. My eyes doesn't leave her until she's out the door. I wish she had stayed to eat with us. I desperately want to know why she's so sad. No. I need to know. I need to know so that I that I can figure out a way to help her. Ugh… Why do I care? It's not my fucking problem. But I can't stand that she looks so broken. And I don't get why. It can't just be because of Finn, can it? Thinking back to what Mercedes and Asian number one talked about last night it seemed like there was something more to the story. And the shit about the hospital too. I don't get it. No. Fuck it. I don't wanna know. Whatever it is, it's probably a huge fucking mess and I have no reason to involve myself in that just 'cause I want to sleep with her. That is too much work. Definitely not worth it. Nope. But God, that body. She's probably incredible in bed. And her voice. I have no doubt that I could listen to her talk for days. And not to mention her eyes. Beautiful. I let out a breath, before shaking my head quickly to stop the runaway train that is my thoughts. What the fuck is wrong with me? I don't want to listen to her talk, and it doesn't matter that her eyes are gorgeous. Get your shit together.

"What's wrong with you?" My internal battle comes to a stop when I realize Quinn's talking to me.

"What?" I ask and she chuckles.

"You kinda spaced out for about…" She looks down to her watch on her wrist "… ten minutes, and then you started to shake your head like you were having a seizure." She and the other three idiots laugh at me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I brush it off. "It's just… um.. work." She nods her head slowly, obviously not believing me. Whatever.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N - Time for the next chapter! I want to apologize for the lack of Brittany in earlier chapters and definitely for the lack of her presence in this one. I promise that there will be a lot of Brittana action, drama, fluff and even some smut. All in good time! And Brittana are endgame, if you haven't already figured that out. We have a long road ahead so patience is key ;) If you guys keep leaving kind reviews it definitely motivates me to update faster, so thanks to all of you!  
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**And also, I claim that I don't own Glee. On with the story! **

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**Chapter V**

With my arm thrown over my eyes to shield myself from the light in the room I let out a grunt. I've literally been laying here for an hour now and it is boring as hell. When Quinn asked if I wanted to do something today I was definitely not expecting that it had meant that I'd be watching her work. I don't think we've said a word to each other for ten minutes. She's sitting on the floor with case files, books, notes and two laptops around her. I get that she has to work, but why ask me if I wanted to hang if she had shit to do. I hear her let out a frustrated groan and I sit up in the bed to look at her. I wait for her to talk. I know what's coming. She's going to say that she'll lose the case. She always does. But that's almost always crap. She's too good at bullshitting people to lose. She can be very persuasive when she wants to. She'll play that jury like a damn fiddle, and she'll win. Even if the guy really is guilty.

"Fuck S! I'm gonna lose this one!" I start laughing and she whips her head around to look at me. She's annoyed. "What's so damn funny about me losing?"

"Well, you are a really sore loser which makes it hilarious to watch you lose." I smirk at her and she narrows her eyes. "But we both know you're not going to lose. You always say that." I lay back down at the bed with a sigh.

"I'm not kidding San. This whole case is a fucking mess! I don't even know where to start!" She's baiting me. She wants me to get involved and share my thoughts on the case. Even though I dropped out of Law School, and I will never admit this to my parents, I did actually find it interesting. Thrilling almost. I loved the game. I mean, I've always been good at using my words to manipulate people and that's practically what it means to be a defense lawyer. Whether the client is guilty or not doesn't matter. What matters is convincing the jury that he's not. If you can do that, you win.

"Is he guilty?" I ask already knowing the answer. I know it pisses her off. And I know she's rolling her eyes at me even though I can't see it and I can't help but let out a chuckle.

"You know I don't ask my clients that." She answers and gets up from the floor. She stretches her arms over her head and lets out a deep breath. "I know I always get this way before court, but this time it feels different. Something feels off." She's baiting me again. "Too many people are hiding stuff, and it feels like everything is going to come to the surface when it's already too late for me to do shit about it!" I lift myself to lean on my elbows so that I can see her. She's clearly upset. I have mixed feelings. Usually I'd jump at the chance to help her. It's nice to be needed and knowing that she trusts me enough to get me involved in something that is so important to her. But I'm not sure I'd be much help right now. A certain blonde is taking up too much space in my head and has been since Sunday. And that was three days ago. I haven't seen her since Monday at the diner. And that interaction barely counts. Yesterday I walked around the town for like three hours hoping I'd run into her. Fucking pathetic. I'm going crazy. Maybe the distraction of helping Quinn would be good for me.

"Alright Q, I'll bite. Lay it on me." I say and wait for her to start explaining the case.

"Really?" She asks with an excited smile. I shrug and lay back again.

"It's not like we have anything else to do."

"Great! I knew I could count on your help when I called before!" She smirks and throws a case file at me. Fucking bastard. Of course she wanted me to help from the beginning. I pick the case file up and open it. I scrunch my nose when the first thing I see is the picture of a dead body.

"A warning would've been nice Q." I say while holding up one of the pictures in her direction.

"Oh! Sorry! Wrong file!" She chuckles and takes the picture and the case file from me. She picks up another one. "This is the background story." I take it from her hand and start looking over the pages. I'm not patient enough to read it.

"What's the charges?"

"First degree murder. My client, Hannah Clark, has allegedly killed her fiancé, Robert Johnson." She says with a sigh and sits back on the floor opening yet another case file.

"Motive?"

"He was cheating on her with another dude. Or several others, both men and women, for the past two years. She only found out a week before he was killed." I can't stop myself from laughing.

"How did she find out?"

"Her best friend, Samantha Williams, told her. She had apparently seen him with this other dude at a frat party. She took some pictures to prove it, told Hannah to come to the party, she did and Samantha showed her the pictures. Hannah confronted Robert and they started to argue. A lot of people witnessed it and according to them Hannah was very angry and violent. She was hitting him, screaming and shit. Hannah and Samantha left after that, and a week later Robert was found dead."

"Wow. It sure sounds like she has some anger management problems."

"Wouldn't you be pissed if you found out that the person you've been with for five years and you are about to marry has been cheating on you for quite some time?"

"I'd probably be the one cheating and not the other way around." I say with a smirk and Quinn laughs.

"Yeah, probably… Anyway, my key witness is Samantha. Hannah was with her the night Robert was killed."

"If she has an alibi why's she being charged?"

"The alibi isn't strong enough. Samantha's her best friend and it's believed that she might be lying for her. Evidence is pointing to that it was a woman that killed him so that doesn't help. And also, Hannah's engagement ring was found at the crime scene."

"What the fuck Q? You're screwed!" I chuckle and climb out of bed to sit beside her. I open the case file with the pictures of the dead body again. Being prepared this time doesn't make me as nauseated as before.

"I know! That's why I need a fresh pair of eyes. I'm hoping you can help me find something to work with."

Two hours later I'm laying on my stomach on the floor with one of Quinn's laptops in front of me. So far we've got nothing that will help her case. My head is still all over the place. My thoughts are jumping on thing to another. One second I'm imagining Brittany's smile which makes me smile, and next I'm picturing the dead body of Robert with strangle marks around his throat which makes me sick to my stomach. Next I'm thinking about Brittany's eyes and how I would love to just drown in them. I think I'm going insane.

"Is this the witness preparation video of Samantha?" I ask and Quinn shifts her attention from the other laptop to see what I'm looking at. She gives me a nod. I put one of my earbuds in and start playing the video.

"Yeah, it's not that interesting though. It's just me, Samantha and Hannah preparing for court." I nod understanding but my attention is already on the screen. Quinn turns her eyes back to whatever she was looking at before. I'm about ten minutes into the video when I start noticing something. My mind might be tricking me so I continues to watch another ten minutes before saying anything. I keep replaying some parts of the video to be sure of what I'm seeing. Yeah. I've got something. I pause the video and start looking through the files as fast as I can to find something that can strengthen what I just witnessed. After about an half an hour later I'm back to looking at the video to find more clues. I'm pretty sure my theory is good.

"Q?" I wait until I have her attention.

"Yeah?" She says distractedly.

"Have you seen this?"

"Yeah, like ten times. Why?" She says still absently minded. I want her full attention for this.

"Well, you need to see it again."

"Why?" I roll my eyes.

"Because I found something."

"From the preparation video?" She asks finally looking up at me but doesn't move the computer from her lap.

"Yeah, of course! I don't see how you missed it." I finally have her undivided attention and she moves the small distance to me with a frown.

"Missed what?"

"The best friend did it!"

"What?" She laughs. "That's just ridiculous! Why would she kill her best friends fiancé? She doesn't have a motive."

"Oh yeah, she does." I say with a smug grin. Quinn just looks at me like I'm an idiot.

"Okay. I have no idea where you're going with this so please explain."

"She's in love with her best friend." I say like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Quinn gives me a disbelieving look before laughing.

"Funny San! Just because you're gay doesn't mean everybody is." I roll my eyes again.

"Just hear me out, okay?" She looks at me for a moment before motioning for me to continue. "Okay, so look at this?" I say and show her some pieces from the video. "You see the look she's giving Hannah?" I ask and Quinn nods her head yes but I can see that she's not convinced.

"Yeah sure, it looks a little more than just friendly but it doesn't prove anything really."

"I know. It's just fleeting looks but these…" I say and pick up some papers I've collected before. "… prove I'm right." I hand them to Quinn and she starts looking through them. I try to give her a moment to let my theory sink in but I'm too excited to wait. "She did it! The records of the text messages between Hannah and Samantha during that last week of Roberts life shows that Samantha was angry that Hannah might forgive Robert for what he did. She stated several times that she deserved someone better." Quinn looks up from the papers to me.

"Yeah, sure. But that still doesn't prove anything?"

"Well, look at this." I hand the laptop to Quinn. "This is Samantha's blog. It took some time to find and her full name is not on there but I know it's hers. Look at this entry." I say and point to the one where the owner of the blog is writing about her best friend in a very loving way. "This is what you want to read." I say and point to a specific part. It says _she deserves someone better. Someone that will give her everything. Someone like me._ Quinn seems to be reading the sentences over and over again.

"Wow…" She says after what seems like an eternity. "You might be right." I let out a snort.

"Of course I am!"

"It still doesn't prove anything. What about Hannah's engagement ring?"

"Hannah and Samantha live together right?" I ask and Quinn confirms it with a nod waiting for me to explain my theory. "And I read somewhere that she said she had taken it off after the fight and left it at the bathroom sink, right?" Quinn nods again. "So that means that Samantha could've taken it and places it at the murder scene."

"But that doesn't make sense. Why would she pin the murder on the person she's in love with?" I shrug and get up from the floor before stretching my body.

"Unrequited love. I don't know. She's a psychopath. She probably think that if she can't have Hannah then no one can." I look at Quinn as she contemplates what I've just said. She abruptly gets up from the floor and gets her phone from the nightstand.

"I'll be right back!" She says and disappears out the door. I let out a sigh and lay back down at the bed with my legs dangling from the edge. Lawyer work is exhausting. But it was kind of fun. Feels like old times with me and Quinn. We worked together a lot that first year of Law School before I dropped out, and there's been countless of times that Quinn has asked for my opinions on cases after that. Both during her studies and also after she started her firm with Karofsky. But it was a long time ago we got a chance to do this. We make a good team. I smile at the thought before closing my eyes for a moment and let out a long sigh. I wonder what Brittany is doing. If she's alright. If she's happy. From what I've seen it doesn't seem like that. I wonder why, and what happened to her. It feels like she's only a fraction away from breaking down every time I've seen her. I hope she's not doing that right now. If she is, I wish I could've been there to take it all away. Since Sunday all I can think about is ways that I could be there for her somehow. It's weird. She doesn't even know me, and I don't know her. I can't understand why she has this affect on me. It's driving me nuts. My thoughts are interrupted by the door bursting open.

"Santana! You're a fucking genius!" Quinn exclaims as she closes the door.

"I know." I just mumble it so I don't think she heard.

"You might have just won me this case!" I sit up at the edge of the bed and see her content smile. "Why did you drop out of Law School? You'd be a fucking awesome lawyer. You attention to detail is insane!" She says while picking up case files and papers from the floor. I laugh at her enthusiasm.

"It was never my dream and I got a better deal." I say with a smirk.

"Yeah, I know! But damn, you are good. One of my employees working this case with me is checking up everything concerning Samantha right now and I think he's going to find what we need to close this shit."

"I'm glad." I say with a sincere smile as she picks up the last of what was on the floor and puts it on her desk in a neat pile.

"Yes! Let's go out and eat. I'll buy, of course, as a thank you!"

"Sounds great Q." I chuckle at how excited she is.

A little over an hour, and a bottle of wine, later we've just finish our dinner and Quinn is going on about how the case we've been working is going to have an interesting twist in court. She got a call back from her employee a little while ago and he was sure that Samantha was behind the murder after some more investigation. Quinn was beyond happy. Her plan was to not tell anybody about the discovery and just let it all play out in court. Using her key witness to a maximum, letting her take the stand unknowingly of all this and turn it around against her. Fucking brutal but so fucking smart. I just let her chat on about the case and her predictions about how it all is gonna work out while I drift back to thinking about Brittany. We're at the same restaurant as we were Monday. I'm secretly hoping she'll turn up unexpectedly again, with her cute smile and a takeout bag in her hand. More so, I'm hoping she'd join us so I can listen to her beautiful voice all night. I really hope it wasn't the last time I heard her voice Monday night. Or that it was the last time I saw those piercing blue eyes, her gorgeous long blonde hair that was pulled up in a perfectly messy bun, or that smile that felt like it was just for me. Just the thought that I'd never get to see that again makes me feel empty. Like I lost the most important thing in my life. How can you lose something that was never yours? I let out a frustrated sigh. I just wish I could be there for her.

"Sorry! I know I'm going on and on about the case. I'm just excited!" Quinn says all of a sudden. She must have heard my sigh and thought I got tired of listening to her. I meet her eyes for a moment.

"What happened to her?" I finally voice the question that's been on my mind since Sunday. Quinn gives me a confused look.

"Who? Samantha? I thought we already established that."

"No, Brittany. What happened to her?" Quinn just stares at me with a frown. "She always seems sad, so something must have happened, right?" Quinn continues her staring for another moment before speaking.

"San.. We shouldn't talk about this." She breaks her stare and pick up the drink menu from the table.

"Why not?" I ask a little too loud and the older couple next to us gives me a disapproving look. Oh, fuck you! I roll my eyes at them before glaring at Quinn again. "It's obvious that something's wrong so just tell me."

"It's not my place to tell you S." She answers without looking up from the menu.

"I don't care. It's not like I can ask her. Hell, I'll probably never see her again so just tell me!" She finally puts the drink menu down and meets my eyes.

"You'll probably see her again. Lima isn't that big and she lives here."

"Just answer the damn question Quinn!" My outburst earns me another look from the couple to my left.

"No, Santana. Drop it." I let out an irritated breath.

"Why are you so damn stubborn and annoying?"

"Why are you so damn stubborn and curious about this?" She retorts.

"I don't know Q. I just am." She looks at me for a couple of seconds like she's thinking over whether to tell me or not. Eventually a small shake of her head and a sigh tells me that she's not going to reveal anything.

"Like I said, it's not my place to tell you. And frankly, Santana, you should let it go." She says calmly and I'm about to ask her why but she holds up a hand to stop me. "Just shut up and let me finish, okay?" She waits for me to give her a sign that I will. I lean back in my chair and motion for her to continue. "I know you, and that you won't let it go just because I ask you to. You're persistent like that." She says with a chuckle. "When you set your mind to something, no matter what it is, you won't stop until you've reached that goal. No one can stand in your way. And that's why you are so successful today. I mean look at you, all your records have sold platinum. Two of the them double-platinum. You're constantly on the road or in the studio. You have the most amazing fans, but they can be quite annoying too. They never leave you alone. You're their hero. But the most annoying thing about your success is the damn media coverage you get. There's always a story to write about the Santana Lopez, and even if there's not, the assholes will make one up. You're very good at handling it though. I guess you're a pro by now." She laughs and I give her a smirk.

"Thanks, I guess. But I don't get what your point is Q?" She lets out a sigh.

"My point is that you should let this obsession about Brittany go. I won't tell you anything about her past, and even though you're not behaving like it, I know you're smart enough to realize that it'd be wrong of me to do so. It's not like it's a secret but it is not me you should be asking. And I am asking you to not ask her. No. I'm begging you not to. Just please San, stay out of it." She gives me her most pleading look which makes me frown.

"Wow. I never thought I'd see Quinn Fabray beg. But I still don't get why you want me to stay out of it?"

"It's complicated. She's been through a lot and doesn't need anymore drama in her life. And being around you always comes with drama. A lot of it! Brittany is a really good friend and I care about her."

"Okay, I get it! You're trying to protect her from my shit, but I care too." I try to argue which earns me a laugh from Quinn. Screw you, Quinn.

"No offense S, but you are not a caring type of person. You're more the hump and dump kind of person. The trail of broken hearted women you're leaving everywhere you go is proof of that, and I've never seen you in a relationship. I know you have a thing for Britt but she's not going to be one of those women. I'm not letting you do that. And when it comes to friends you have one, and that's me. I know you care about me, but I do have my doubts sometimes." She finishes her rant with a chuckle.

"Okay, okay! You're right. I don't have the best track record, but it's never too late to turn it around. I can be her friend. I'll prove you wrong." I say with a determined smirk and lean my elbows on the table.

"I guess that means you're not going to let it go?" She leans back in her seat.

"No. There's something about her that just makes it impossible for me to let go. She makes me feel something. I don't know how to explain it or even what it means but I need to find out what it is. I don't expect you to understand, or even like it, but I do need you to respect that I want to make an effort here." She looks at me surprised. Hell, even I'm surprised at what I just said. I have no idea where that just came from. Damn. I think I have feelings for her. Like more than just attraction. No, I can't. I've barely even spoken to her. This is driving me insane. I look up from the table to meet Quinn's gaze and she's just staring at me letting what I said sink in for a moment.

"I love you S, but I swear to God, if you fuck this up I am not cleaning up your mess. You know I always have your back but if you do something stupid this time I won't. I've never seen this kind of seriousness from you and I respect what you're saying. Just be careful, okay?" I nod my head to show that I understand what she means.

"I don't even know if she's wants to be around me. You're right about that there's a lot of drama that comes with me, and that can be a lot to deal with. She probably has no interest in me." I let out a deep breathe and lean back.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Quinn says with a smirk before finishing what was left of her wine.

"What makes you say that?" Quinn shrugs and catches the attention of a waitress.

"I saw the way she was looking at you Sunday night, and again Monday." I don't get the chance to ask her about it as the waitress approaches us.

"Can I get you anything else?"

"Just the check please." Quinn answers with a smile.

"Okay, I'll be right back with it." The waitress disappears again and I'm about to ask her again about what she just said about Brittany but she start speaking before I can.

"I need to get back to the hotel and my freaking case. So much to do now that I actually have a chance to win thanks to you. A lot of phone calls to make, case files to read and evidence to find. I need to find something that will stick so that I can take that bitch Samantha down." The waitress comes around with the check and Quinn pays in cash before standing up. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay, good. We'll do something then. And I promise it won't involve work this time." I laugh and nod. Quinn starts to leave and I shift my focus to my phone.

"Oh, and San?" I lift my head and see that Quinn has turned around towards me again.

"Yeah?"

"You should go to the park by the lake tomorrow around noon." I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"Why?"

"You might find some answers there." She says with a wink before leaving for real this time.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N - Last chapter guys! Kidding, we haven't even started yet ;) **

**It's a short one though, because I decided to split this chapter in two since I'm not done with the second part of it and I wanted to get something up tonight! I'm going on a short vacation on Thursday to celebrate my birthday so there will be a break in uploads. Only a small one though, I promise. But with some encouragement from you guys I might find the time to finish the next chapter before then! :) **

**Thanks so much for the reviews, and all the follows and favorites. You're all amazing! **

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**Chapter VI**

I've been pacing around my hotel room for I don't know how long. It's seems like the walls are closing in with every step I take. Or maybe it's just me going crazy. Yeah, that's probably it. I walk from one wall to another counting my steps. Same distance as before. Of course it is. A room can't shrink. With a sigh I throw myself on the bed. It's my head. My brain cells are dying one by one. I can practically hear it if I listen closely. Does alcohol kill brain cells? If so, I'm giving that shit up. I pick up my phone to send a text. I need a distraction.

**To Quinn: Does alcohol kill brain cells?** I don't even have the time to put the phone down before the answer comes.

**From Quinn: Umm… I don't think so. Why?**

**To Quinn: No reason. **

I stand up again for another round of pacing. Why am I so fucked up about this? It's almost like I'm nervous, and I don't do nervous. I'm not even sure I'll find her. Well, if she's there I'll find her. The park wasn't that big. I checked it out last night. God, I hope she's there. My phone signals that I have a new message.

**From Quinn: If it did kill brain cells you wouldn't have any left.**

Funny girl. Before I can answer an incoming call appears. It's Zizes.

"Whatever it is, I'm innocent." I'm met with laughter.

"_Oh darling, we both know that's rarely the truth._"

"Whatever. What's up?"

"_I know you wanted your visit to Lima to stay in the dark but it's out. Which was inevitable really. I've tried my best, but some kids took pictures of you at a restaurant both on Monday and yesterday and put it online this morning. From the looks of it, it was the same restaurant too. Is that the only one in that godforsaken town?_" I chuckle.

"I think there's a couple more."

"_Yeah well, I was just calling to give you a heads up. The razzi will probably come your way now, so be good. Try not to ruin my vacay._" I let out a groan. I wouldn't even get a week in peace. Fucking paparazzi. Downside of my life.

"I won't make any promises."

"_I wouldn't trust you even if you did._"

"I don't pay you to trust me."

"_True. I'm gonna go back to sipping on my Margarita in the sun now. Zizes out._" Before I can even respond the line is dead. I reread Quinn's message.

**To Quinn: Whatever. **I quickly press send but decide to tell her about the news from Zizes too.

**To Quinn: Zizes just called. Location is out. **I glance at the alarm clock by the bed. It's just after 10am. Why am I up this early? Oh right, I never fell asleep. I couldn't get her out of my damn head. I just wanna see her. I wanna know if she's okay. I wanna see if I can make her smile again. And if I'm lucky, even hear her laugh.

**From Quinn: Damn. How long do we have before the assholes come?**

**To Quinn: 6 hours maybe. **I throw my phone on the bed before heading for the shower in hope that it'll help clear my head.

Almost an hour later I emerge from the bathroom. Hands all wrinkly from being in the shower too long. Head too, I'm guessing, 'cause it is definitely not clearer than before. I pick up my phone and see that I have four unread messages. Three of them from Quinn so I decide to read them first.

**From Quinn: Not nearly enough. And stop changing my facebook name to Quinn Fabgay… **

**From Quinn: And stop friend requesting David Hasselhoff!**

**From Quinn: OMG! You sent messages to him too?! You're dead to me. **I laugh out loud at this.

**To Quinn: Don't hate on the love letter I wrote for you. I worked on that all night. **I'm still chuckling when I read the next message from Schuester.

**From Buttchin: Call me. ASAP! **No, I don't think I will. I throw another glance at the alarm clock. I should leave soon. A wave of nervousness hits me. I try to brush it off as I focus on getting dressed instead. 20 minutes later I leave my hotel room and head for the park. I almost feel nauseous. Is it weird that I'm going to see someone that doesn't even know I'm coming? Someone that doesn't even know me. Or might not even wanna talk to me. Or be around me at all. Yeah, insanely weird. And borderline stalkerish. What if I don't dare to talk to her? I've never had a problem talking to women before. The opposite really. But she scares me. Maybe I should just watch her from a safe distance. Yeah, 'cause that's not stalking, at all. I'm brought back to reality when my phone goes off.

"What do you want, Will?" I snap.

"_You didn't call me so I had to call you._"

"That doesn't answer my question. What's so important that you couldn't take it up with Jennifer?"

"_It's all over the internet that you're in Lima._"

"I know. Zizes already told me." I say still annoyed.

"_Okay, good. And you need to get back for rehearsals with the dancers._"

"I know, and I'm planning to."

"_When? Before the tour starts?_" I swear that man makes it his life mission to get on my nerves.

"Of course! I'll be back for a couple of days the week before the tour starts."

"_Are you sure that's enough?_" I roll my eyes.

"Yes, it will be enough Will. And as much as I love this enlightening conversation I'm gonna hang up now." I put the phone in the back pocket of my jeans after I've hung up. I slow down my pace as I'm getting closer to the park. Just around the corner of the house in front of me and I will be at the entrance of the park. A feeling of doubt creeps up on me and I stop. Should I turn around? I probably should. My head tells me to but my legs has another opinion and a few hesitant steps later I've passed the building and the park is right in front of me. Another moment of doubt and I've stopped again. No, I can't go back to the hotel. I need to know her. I can't wrap my head around why I'm feeling that need, I just do. And no matter how much I try to control or suppress it, I can't. I have no idea of what I'm getting myself into but I have a feeling that it's going to be a bumpy ride. A complicated change in my life. It scares the shit out of me. I've seen her twice in my life and yet she's all I can think about. It's like if I don't take this opportunity to at least try to get to know her I will regret it my whole life. That's one thing I'm sure of. Maybe the only thing I'm sure of. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding and my legs carry me with a little more confidence now. I look to my right. There's a playground. Two mothers are sitting on the bench talking and watching their kids play. The kids are chasing each other and shrieking happily. A small smile forms on my lips as I pass them.

Then I see her and my smile is suddenly wider. She's sitting on the dock that goes out into the lake. I can only see her back. She's leaning forward slightly and throws something in the lake. I think she's feeding the ducks with bread. She looks peaceful. Her hair is hanging loosely on her back, and the sun makes it shine even more than usually. I let out a content sigh. I could just watch her forever. And I do. Well, at least it feels like I do, until I decide to walk towards the dock. I'd like to keep my creeper status to a minimum. My steps are slow and I stop when I'm about 12 feet from her. I panic. I have no idea what to say. How do you start a conversation with someone you barely know? Maybe I should try with a simple word like hey my rational side of the brain tells me. That's usually how you start a conversation. This situation is not really rational though, is it? I don't know anymore. I don't know anything. I think I left my normal self in New York.

"Do you make a habit of sneaking up on people and staring at them?" Her sudden voice makes me jump. High. How the fuck did she know I was here? I was so quiet. Is she psychic or something?

"Do you make a habit of scaring the shit out of people?" I retort a little angrier that I intended to, and my heart is still beating like crazy. I can hear her chuckle but she doesn't answer. She just pats the dock beside her gesturing for me to sit down there. I comply, but I make sure there's some distance between us. I don't dare to be too close to her. She throws another piece of bread into the lake and the ducks hurry to get to it. She turns her head towards me with a small smile.

"Hi."

"Hey." I smile back and hold her gaze for a moment. All too soon it's broken when she turns her focus back to the ducks.

"I had a feeling I'd see you today."

"Yeah? How come?" I ask curiously because I wanna know if she really is psychic. But she shrugs her shoulders without further explanation. She breaks the remainder of the bread in half and offers me one of the them. I take it and start throwing small pieces of it in the lake for the ducks to eat. We sit in silence for a long time. I have so many questions I want to ask her but I don't know how to do that. And I can't just start asking her about her life. I know I need to be patient, but that was never my thing.

"You need to spread it out!" She says suddenly and I look up at her confused. When she sees the question mark that is my face she chuckles again. God, I love that sound. "You need to throw the bread more spread out so all the ducks gets the chance to eat it." She explains excitedly and to emphasize her point she tosses one piece to the left of the flock of ducks and another one to the right of them. I can't help but laugh at her antics.

"Okay." I smile and does what she says happily.

"Good. It's not a fair game otherwise. What if one starves to death? We don't want that to happen." She says with a serious tone. Too damn adorable. I shake my head no with a serious face.

"No, we definitely don't want that." I continue to fling tiny pieces of bread into the water but now I put more effort into my aim. I make it my mission to make sure that every last one of those ducks get a mouthful of the bread. It might be mission impossible I realize soon enough as my half of the bread is almost finished. Brittany has a lot more left than I have. It's like she's carefully considering where to throw every bit of that bread. I just keep on tossing it in different directions quickly. My tactic is that if I'm fast enough the duck that took the last piece won't have time to get the next one 'cause it'll be busy. But Brittany takes her time. Almost like someone's life depends on it. When I have no bread left I lean back on my elbows and study her while she's feeding the ducks. I just want to fast-forward until that moment in a friendship when it's appropriate to ask someone personal questions. Questions like why are you so sad? Did someone hurt you real badly? Fuck, if someone did I'll kill them. Another one of those waves of my normal uncaring self hits me. Why is this so important to me? It's not like I usually give a fuck about other people's feelings. What makes Brittany so different?

"What are you thinking about?" I'm brought out of my thoughts as I realize she's talking to me. I meet her eyes and she's looking at me expectantly. I must've been deep in thought because I didn't even notice that she'd turned her attention away from the ducks. I frown in confusion. What did she ask? Oh right, what I'm thinking about. I can't say her 'cause that would be weird.

"Umm… You, actually." Smooth. Go ahead and do the exact opposite of what you were supposed to. She smiles for real the first time since I've sat down.

"What about me?" She says and lays down on her back. I don't know how to answer that.

"I, eh.. umm… was just wondering how you are? If you're okay, you know?" I stutter out and lay back as well with my head turned her direction. Her eyes are watching the sky above us. A moment passes before she answers.

"I'm fine." She says eventually with a sigh. I know for sure that's bullshit.

"You're lying." What the fuck Lopez! Boundaries. What's wrong with me? "I mean, it's okay if you don't want to tell me but I know that's not true. You're not fine." I explain quickly and scowl myself for my bluntness. Seriously, it's not my place to question her honesty. I'm gonna scare her away before I even get a chance to see who she truly is. Stop fast-forwarding dammit. I'm surprised when I hear her chuckle and I meet her eyes. She gets up on her feet.

"Let's go!" She says and hold out her hand to help me up.

"Where are we going?" I ask confused. Confusion has become my standard feeling when it comes to her.

"We're going to get lunch. I'm paying, of course." She says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Yeah, that doesn't help my confusion. Is she asking me on a date? Or more like telling me? Nah, probably not. I'm getting ahead of myself. Eventually I take her hand and she helps me up. When I'm back in standing position my eyes travel to hers. She's smiling and I return it.

"Okay." I say after a long while. Probably too long. Her eyes travels to our hands that are still linked but she doesn't let go. But I do, since it feels like I'm crossing those boundaries again. When I let go, a couple of seconds passes where she just studies my face with her eyebrows scrunched together slightly. I'm wondering if I did something wrong. The next thing I know her hand is back in mine and she slowly laces our fingers. I swear my heart skips like ten beats when she does.

"Come with me." She says and pulls on my hand. Yes, anywhere. Anywhere you go and I'll follow.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N - I'm back! With another short chapter though. Better than nothing, right? :)  
**

**I am gonna promise that another update will come shortly. Within the next four days. Yes, that's a promise.**

**Thanks to everybody that left a review! And of course for the favorites and follows. You make me so happy! :)**

**Just one thing left to do, and that's the disclaimer. But I won't do that! Because I own everything in this world. Yes, you heard it here first! I'm the owner of everything. Especially all good things. All mine. Umm.. No, that was a lie. Obviously. I blame my tired mind. It's 4am. Don't hate on me. Seriously though, I own close to nothing and I definitely don't own Glee. But please feel free to enjoy the story anyway! Good morning, or day, or night, depending on where you are! :D**

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**Chapter VII**

We walk in silence. The only thing occupying my mind was the feeling of her hand in mine. Or more like feelings. I have so many different ones. I went from feeling excited, to confused, to happy, to scared and then to feeling content and just utterly calm. A calmness I've never felt before. And that just made me confused again. How can a simple gesture like her taking my hand make me feel so at ease. It's unreal.

"You're over thinking things." Brittany speaks and puts an abrupt end to my thoughts. The confusion doesn't stop however. It's like she can read my mind and it freaks me out. It's kind of invading, and I can't decide if I like how easily she seems to understand me or not.

"Seriously! Stop it." She says with a chuckle and I turn to look at her with a frown. She needs to stop it, damn it! Being inside my head that is. I don't answer her. I don't know what to say so I just shake my head with a small smile which she returns.

"Here we are." She says and we stop in front of Breadstix and I'm starting to think that this might actually be the only restaurant in Lima.

"Is this seriously the only place to eat in this town?" I ask her and she lets out a laugh.

"No, there are others but this is the only place with food that taste good." She explains and I nod understanding. I let go of her hand to open the door and hold it open.

"Ladies first." I motion with my free hand for her to go first and throw a wink at her. She chuckles.

"Such a charmer." She says and walks inside.

When we're seated I see that the waitress from our breakfast/lunch/dinner this Monday is heading towards us.

"Hello Nathalie." I say with a smile when she approaches us. She returns my smile with a shy one.

"Hi Miss Lopez." She nervously taps the pen against her note pad a couple of times before turning her attention to Brittany. "Hi Brittany, you're here early today." It's more of a statement than a question. Brittany just shrugs her shoulders. "How's Emily?" Nathalie asks and when Brittany doesn't say anything I frown. Who's Emily? Brittany glances at me and Nathalie does the same before their eyes meet again. It looks like they have a silent conversation. I try to figure out what they're saying but their 'conversation' ends quickly and Nathalie turns to me again.

"What can I get you today?" I think this is where my confusion hits a maximum. What's wrong with this town? Can all people here read minds or something? Everybody is so damn secretive. It's fucking annoying. I lean back in my seat with a sigh.

"Just… whatever you recommend." I say eventually and she nods. "And bring a bottle of wine too." God knows I need it.

"Okay. I'll be right back with your drinks." She disappears and another frown appears at the same time on my forehead. She didn't take Brittany's order. I look at her and she smiles at my confusion before pressing her lips together.

"She knows what I want already." Brittany explains. I should just stop talking altogether. It's not like I need actual words anyway since she seems to know exactly what I'm thinking all the time. I hold her gaze and she looks back at me curiously.

"I know what you're thinking." She says after a while.

"Yeah? And what is that?" I ask with a smirk. She studies me for another moment before answering.

"You're wondering if I can read your mind."

"Yeah, I am. It's freaking me out." I say as I cross my arms over my chest like it somehow will help me protect myself. She chuckles at me.

"You can stop freaking out then, because I can't read your mind." She smiles and catches my eyes. For the longest time she doesn't let my gaze go, and even if I wanted to I couldn't break away from it either. It calms me down, just like her hand in mine did before, and I uncross my arms again. I wonder how she does that. She has some kind of power over me. That's for sure.

"Your eyes speak volumes though." She eventually says with a smirk and I groan before covering my eyes with my hand. I feel so vulnerable under her gaze. She chuckles again and then I feel her hand covering mine and lightly tug at it. It startles me. Not that she's touching me but the trembling feeling that shoots through my body. It doesn't just startle me, it scares me. But in a good way. I think. Her careful pull on my hand doesn't make me uncover my eyes. I'm hoping that if I stay hidden all of these feelings will just go away, and I can go back to being my awesome uncaring self. Because I know that as long as I'm not staring back into her eyes I might be able to do that.

"Don't do that. I like your eyes. They tell me a lot about you." Yeah, that doesn't make me want to take my hand away. That just adds to the list of things about her that scares the hell out of me. She sees right through me all too easy. Brittany tugs a little harder on my hand forcing me to take it away. I keep my eyes shut a moment longer before opening them to find hers looking back at me with that incredible smile I just can't get enough of. "And they are definitely gorgeous." My cheeks heat up at her compliment. God damn it, I can't remember the last time someone made me blush. Hell, I don't even think I've ever done that before. I feel very embarrassed by it and break away from her intense stare just as Nathalie comes back with our drinks. Thank God for the distraction. I look at the waitress as she pours me a glass of wine from the bottle before doing the same for Brittany. I down half of my glass immediately, which earns me a frown from Brittany. I shrug my shoulders.

"I was thirsty." She just nods her head once with a small smile that tells me she doesn't believe that at all. She catches my eyes again with that curiousness. It's almost like there's something about her that forces me to look back. It doesn't matter how much I feel the need to look away from her and the way she's studying me. It's not that I don't like it. I fucking love her eyes. They're incredible and hold so much. I don't really know what yet, but I can't find out soon enough. But it's not a fair game. In a heartbeat it feels like she sees right through me and the walls I've spent years building, while I come up empty. How does she do that?

"I'll be right out with your food." Nathalie again saves me from Brittany's attempt to read me.

"Thank you, Nathalie." I say smiling at the young waitress and she turns to leave with a blush. I can't help but chuckle. I will never understand the reason why my fans likes me and my music so much. I'm not a particularly good person and I do a lot of shit. Most of it is kept out of the media but still, things slip out. I love them though. Every last single one of them. They are the only reason to why I'm so successful today. Without them I'd be nothing. But I don't understand it. I'm not a special person. There are lots of better people to look up to.

"What are you thinking about?" Brittany asks and my attention is back at her. She's looking at me with that curious smile again.

"Nothing really. My fans… I don't get it." I answer shaking my head from side to side.

"What don't you get?" She raises her eyebrows at me and waits for me to explain.

"I don't know. It's weird. Like why me? I'm nothing special."

"Are you serious?" She gives me a incredulous smile and leans back in her seat. I just shrug and look down in my lap. My right hand is fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. I don't know why I'm suddenly feeling so self-conscious. I can feel her eyes studying me which doesn't make it any better. Several moments later she leans forward in her seat again and covers my left hand, which is still on the table, with hers. She doesn't speak until I look up.

"It's simple really. You're amazing with your fans. You always take the time to sign autographs and take pictures with them. You invest yourself in both the music that you make and on a personal level. You're an out and proud lesbian, which has helped a lot of young kids out there in their own struggle. Quinn always talked about how she admired your dedication to your fans and how you used to take time from your busy schedule to write them back or respond to something they've written on your Twitter or Facebook. It's admirable. She also says that she sometimes think that your fans are your best friends and not her. I just think she's a bit jealous." Brittany chuckles and I do too. She might be right. She squeezes my hand before continuing. "You give them courage to be themselves, whether gay or straight. You're stubborn and driven in the best kind of way. You've fought hard to be where you are today, and if that's not a good role model I don't know what is. You shouldn't sell yourself short Santana. You're as devoted to them as they are devoted to you. And if I've learned anything in life it's that you only get as much as you give. And you give a lot, and therefore you get a lot in return. You deserve it." She gives me one of those smiles that just makes me melt inside. I feel like I'm about to cry.

I didn't realize until now how much I needed someone to tell me that. How I needed someone to remind me of why I'm doing this is in the first place. Somewhere along all the writing and releasing records and the stress of jumping from city to city for concerts the last one and a half year I think I started to forget. I realize that I've also started to neglect my fans somewhat. I don't write them back as much as I used to. I need to get back to that. That's who I am. Not this closed of person who walks through life without noticing the amazing people or fans I have around me. I've been behaving badly and taking it all for granted lately. Brittany is right, you only get what you give.

"Santana?" Brittany's voice brings me back from my thoughts and I meet her eyes. "Don't do that to yourself."

"Do what?" I ask in confusion.

"Over think. You've been giving yourself completely to your fans for the most part of your career. You're entitled to be selfish sometimes."

"But it kind of feels like I haven't given enough back lately."

"You shouldn't feel like that. You've released more records than any other artist during your six years in the business. And maybe you haven't been able to be as personal with your fans as you used to. But your fan base has grown a lot, which makes it harder. You're a very busy person. Quinn told me this is the first time you've ever taken some time off."

"Well, that's not true. I take time off between tours when I write."

"That's not really taking time off is it? You're still working." I realize it's pointless to argue with her since she's kind of right. This is the first time I've really stopped everything that has to do with my career to just relax for a while. Though, I have my guitar in my hotel room and plan on do some writing while I'm here. I decide not to mention this to Brittany. God, she's amazing. How can she possibly know exactly what to say to make me feel this at ease with myself. She makes me feel like I'm someone that matters and that I'm doing something good. She doesn't even now me and yet it feels like she's known me forever. It's like she brings me down on earth again and makes me see clearer than I've even done before, and at the same time she raises me sky high with her words and that beautiful smile she's giving me. I clear my throat when I realize that several minutes has passed without either of us saying anything and that I'm just simply looking at her. Or more like staring. She still smiling so I guess she doesn't mind me blatantly looking at her. I bite the side of my lower lip before looking away. It's too easy and comfortable to be around her, that it makes me feel uneasy and uncomfortable. I know. That doesn't make sense at all.

"What is it?" She asks. Another moment passes before I meet her eyes again.

"I don't know. It's just…" I trail of because I have no idea what to say. I squint my eyes at her trying to come up with something. She just continues to smile and wait patiently for me to continue. Several seconds passes before I speak. "Who are you?" She throws her head back laughing at my question. I laugh too, because it is a pretty weird question to ask someone. I mean, how do you even answer that? I'm certain she understands my seriousness in the question though, and that I'm not asking her to just introduce herself. She knows what I'm asking. She knows I want to know everything. But it's so open-ended, and impossible for her to answer in just some words. So I get why she's laughing, and why I am too. It's ridiculous. But it is the only thing I come up with and I truly want to know everything about her. Maybe not at once, but someday. When our laughter subsides we just look at each other again. I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching her. After a while she raises her shoulders and lets them down again in a shrug.

"I'm just a small town girl." She says with a smirk and I laugh at her Journey quote.

"Yeah, and I bet you're living in a pretty lonely world right?"

"Ain't we all?"

"True." I say with a chuckle. "So, no city boys around to keep you company in this lonely world?" I ask in an attempt to find out something about her, and she gives me a smile. One that soon turns sad which makes me frown. Did I say something wrong?

"Nope. I'm all alone in my lonely world." She answers after a while. I study her body language but it's hard to make anything out of it, and she's not meeting my eyes.

"That's sad." I say eventually, and she only nods slowly in agreement. Another ten second passes before she lightly shakes her head and snaps out of whatever she was thinking. She sees my worried face and gives me a smile. I know that it means she's fine, but I'm not reassured. I decide to not pressure her on it though.

"It's okay really, 'cause I have this new friend that keeps me entertained." She gives me a smirk which makes me smile in return.

"Yeah? Wanna tell me more about this friend?"

"Oh well, you know… She's funny, has a beautiful smile and she's a great singer. Famous too, you might have heard of her." I try to ignore the butterflies in my stomach caused by her compliments.

"She sounds amazing!" I say with a smug smile. Brittany nods a couple of times.

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing." She grins happily at me and the butterflies in my stomach multiplies. I think I might have died a little. "But don't tell her I said that. Her ego is already as big as the Pacific Ocean." Brittany continues. Her happy grin has turned into an evil one. My jaw drops in mock hurt, which makes her laugh. If she keeps laughing like that it won't be easy to pretend to be angry with her much longer.

"You really know how to make a girl feel special Britt." I say with a pout.

"Aww, so cute." She says referring to my pout which immediately disappears.

"I am not cute. Hot? Yes, as hell! Sexy? Yeah, like fuck! But cute is not an accurate way to describe me. Are you just trying to offend me?" I give her my angriest face and she laughs again. Damn this girl.

"Oh, San. You're most definitely cute. Especially when you try to look angry."

"Britt, I'm warning you. Stop it." She bites her lower lip and I can see that she's trying to contain a smile. I am not cute. She's cute. And adorable when she's doing that to her lip. My eyes wander between them and her eyes a few times, and eventually ends up staying at her lips when she slowly pokes her tongue out to lick them. God, she's so sexy too. And I so badly want to kiss her right now. I have completely forgotten that I was pretending to be angry.

When she's feels her lips are moistened enough, she moves on to running her tongue along the underside of her teeth just as slowly as before. She then lightly bites down on the tip of her tongue before biting the right side of her lower lip. I groan inwardly. What is she doing to me? My breathing is heavier than before and my pulse is racing. Yeah, the urge to kiss her is really bad. When the biting of her lip turns in to a smirk I look away from her lips to her eyes. I know she just played me hard by the mischievous smile she's giving me. I try to come up with something smart to say but she beats me to it.

"You're so easy."

"And you're bad. And a mean, mean human being." She chuckles. She totally just beat me at my own game. No one does that. And it just makes me want to know her even more. My rational side of the brain is telling me to run. Run fast and far away from her. I have a feeling she's going to be my downfall otherwise.

"You know you love it." She says still smirking and I groan. At loud this time and she just laughs. Yep, definitely feeling myself falling down. Pretty fast too.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N - Update time! Told you I'd update within four days and I managed to keep that promise. Good job me!  
**

**It's another short one though. Tell me what you'd like? Short chapters like this and more frequent updates? Like maybe twice a week. Or longer chapters and maybe a week or two between updates? **

**Anyways, moving on to the story! Please review if you feel like it :)**

**And I own neither Glee or the characters in it! **

* * *

**Chapter VIII**

Nathalie comes around with our food, once again saving me from Brittany intense stare and now her flirtatious ways. She's making me crazy. My head is all over the place and I'm doing my best to stop my spiralling thoughts. If I don't, I know she'll soon read me like an open book. Because that's what she does. And then she'll ask me what I'm thinking and I wouldn't know how to answer, which only makes it easier for her to read me. I feel like I'm losing control of my body and mind slowly and she's taking over. It's both terrifying and thrilling at the same time, but I can't just let myself go. I can't let her have that power over me. It's too scary.

We've been eating in silence for the past ten minutes, and I've kept my focus on my food. I can feel Britt's eyes on me though so I know what's coming.

"What are you thinking about?" I smile in reply and shake my head.

"Enough about me. Tell me about you instead?" There's a carefulness to my question because there's a chance she'll shoot me down and close up her protective walls even tighter. I know this girl is really gonna test my patience. I find myself wondering of it's going to be worth it. I meet her gaze and she's looking at me like she's deep in thought. Another minute passes before her thinking face turns in to a smiling one. She nods her head before taking a bite from her food.

"Okay. What do you wanna know?" She asks while chewing her food. I can't help but smile. She's adorable. Before I get the chance to come up with a question she opens her mouth to speak again. "And try to narrow your question down this time. It might actually be possible to answer if you do."

"Okay." I chuckle and try to think of something easy to ask. I know there's no point in going for any of the questions I really want her to answer. Like who Emily is, and if that's her sister. And why she always so sad whenever she's mentioned. Or why she's always kind of sad really. "Um.. what's your favourite colour?" She looks up at me surprised.

"That's what you're going with?"

"Yeah, sure. Why? Is it a bad question?"

"No, I guess not." She shakes her head slightly. "What's yours?" She then asks instead of answering. It makes me chuckle. It seems like I can never get a straight answer out of her.

"I asked you first." I point out, and she nods.

"Yeah, so?" She smiles and takes another bite of her food. I've already finished mine.

"My favourite colour is red. Do you always answer a question with another question?"

"I don't know. Do I?" I roll my eyes.

"Why can't you just answer a question like a normal person? You're kind of impossible."

"I know. It's one of my best qualities, don't you think?" She smiles happily, and it makes my heart skip a beat.

"No. That's one of your best qualities." I say and point to her smile and she frowns.

"What? My face?" I chuckle at her confusion.

"Yeah, that too. But I was talking about your smile. It's drop dead gorgeous." She blushes at my words. And I don't think I've ever spoken anything that's truer. Her smile literally kills me. In the best way. The compliment also earns me another one of those dazzling smiles that makes my heart crazy.

"Thank you, San." She shyly says after a couple of seconds. I must say I'm pretty proud of myself that I was able to make her blush this time around. I feel like I'm slowly finding back to the confident me. The one in control. I can't let that go. I need it.

"Who knew the Santana Lopez could be so sweet and charming?" She smirks at me.

"What's that suppose to mean? I'm very charming." I scoff slightly offended. Sweet was probably not a word I'd describe myself as though. She nods to show she agrees with me.

"Yes, very much so. In a very sweet way. From what I understand you're more of the straight-forward player kind of charmer. The kind that uses cheesy pick-up lines and actually make them work. Most of the time you don't even need that. Your sexy smirk-wink combination always works from what I've heard." She chuckles and I don't get what's funny about this so I lean back with my arms crossed over my chest protectively again. Then she starts speaking again.

"But you're not like that. You're really sweet and caring. You don't let anyone see that, except your fans. You let them see this part of you. That's why they adore you, and I guess that's why Quinn thinks they are your best friends. You don't really have any other friends. Any real friends, you know? Well, except for Quinn that is. And I don't get it. You're a great friend to her and you've been nothing but nice to me. You've been very patient with me and respected the fact that I'm hiding some things from you that I don't want to talk about. I know there's a lot of things you want to ask but you don't." This makes me raise my eyebrows and I break away from her stare. How can she so easily know that? Am I that transparent? I'm starting to think she was lying before when she said she couldn't read my mind because it's getting scary again.

"I still can't read you mind, Santana." Jesus… She catches my eyes again. "It's all in your face and your eyes. They ask the questions that you don't say out loud. And I'm glad you're not, 'cause I'm not ready to talk about it. But if you give me some time I will be, eventually, I promise. Because I truly believe you're an amazing person, even though you're doing a good job at hiding that person and keeping everybody around at arm's length. What I don't get is why you're here with me? Why you're choosing to let me in and see the real you? It can't just be to get into my pants because that's an awful lot of work, and I doubt you'd work that hard for just a fuck?" She finish her sentence of with an adorable giggle. Is she really expecting me to answer that last question. Because that would be a definite no. Well, I want to sleep with her. She's gorgeous and amazing, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been thinking about it. A lot. In the beginning it was the only thing I wanted but now it's something else. Something more, that I can't explain because I don't understand it myself. But no, I would never work this hard just to fuck somebody.

My mind is racing from all the things she said and I don't even know where to begin with processing it. I feels like she was kind of insulting me and complimenting me at the same time. How is that even possible? And she's definitely wrong about me letting her in. It's not something I've voluntarily done. That's all her, and those damn mind reading blue eyes. It's like she's about to bulldoze right through those walls I've worked hard on building any second now. And I can't let her do that. But at the same time I really want her to. I don't want to distance myself from her and run away. Which makes me confused because I feel like I should walk out of here. It would be the smartest decision. God damn it. I'm going insane.

"Santana."

"Huh?" I look and find Brittany staring at me quizzical look. I think I zoned out for a while.

"I'm sorry." She says when my attention is back at her. She looks sad.

"What are you sorry about, Britt?" I ask and finally uncross my arms with a sigh. She's confusing the hell out of me. All of this is emotionally exhausting. That's why I avoid feelings at all costs. They are nothing but problems.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just that when I get anxious I tend to ramble and speak before thinking. So I'm sorry if I crossed the line." She looks away from me as she speaks and I wonder why she's feeling anxious. If I'm causing her to feel that way I'd hate myself.

"It's okay Britt. Really." I say eventually and hope I sound sincere. I'm not really sure if it is okay, but I think I'd say anything to make that broken expression on her face go away.

"Are you sure?" Her words are barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I finally succeed at making her eyes meet mine again and I give her a reassuring smile, which she returns after a moment.

"Okay." She says with a nod. "And I don't have a favourite colour."

It takes me a minute to understand that she's finally answering my original question.

"You don't have a favourite colour?" I ask with a frown and she shakes her head no.

"I don't like picking favourites. It just doesn't seem fair to the other colours you know?" I can't help but smile and think that I should have expected an answer like that. "And besides, if I were to pick a favourite it'd probably change daily, or even every minute. I have favourite colours for certain things though. Like for flowers, it's yellow. Yellow flowers are the best and they make me think of summer. For water, it's that turquoise colour you only see the ocean have in movies. Well, I guess it exists in real life but I've never had the opportunity to swim in it. It's on my to do list though, because it looks like paradise. And I love the mix of purple and orange you only see in sunsets. It's beautiful and so rare. I always feel so lucky when I manage to catch another one of those." Brittany finishes with a happy sigh and leans back in her seat.

I process what she just said and the dreamy look on her face. Her words and how she said it seems so innocent and almost childlike, but at the same time her eyes portrays a different side. Almost like she's worried. Worried that she won't be able to experience swimming in a turquoise ocean or ever see another one of those sunsets. It breaks my heart, and I want nothing more than making those things happen for her. Neither of us feels the need to say anything for a long time. We just stare at each other, and it's more than enough. I've always hated these kind of silences. They're uncomfortable and makes people say the most random, often stupid, things just to say something and break that awkwardness. Which usually leads to even more awkwardness. Yeah, not a big fan of it. But with Brittany it feels easy and very comfortable.

"Lately…" Brittany starts speaking but stops to wet her lips with her tongue. Momentarily my eyes shift to those lovely lips but I mentally scold myself to not let her trick me another time and I meet her eyes again. "Brown has become my favourite colour when it comes to eyes." And just like that she makes me melt again and I blush. Now she's managed to do what nobody else has been able to twice. Sweet Jesus, what is happening to me? Brittany lets out a giggle.

"You're cute when you blush."

"Oh, please stop it! I'm a lot of things, but cute is not one of them. I thought we already had this conversation? Hot and sexy, remember?"

"I remember." She says with a nod. "I also remember me winning that argument, which means you're also cute. Very cute." She grins happily. It's adorable. It almost makes me forget that I was trying to convince her of my none existing cuteness. I can't be cute. That's something kittens or puppies are. And Brittany of course. I need to maintain my badass reputation.

"Well, you distracted me by cheating."

"I did not cheat!" She exclaims with a laugh.

"So you admit to distracting me?"

"Maybe a little." She bats her eyelashes innocently. "But I didn't hear you complain about it then?" No, no complaints. She can distract me like that whenever she wants to. Even if it is torture.

The sudden movement of her phone starting to vibrate on the table interrupts our banter. She looks at it to see who's calling.

"I have to take this." She says apologetically. I nod understanding and she moves out of her seat and heads for the door and out of the restaurant.

I take this opportunity to check my own phone and find a text from Quinn.

**From Quinn: Did you find her? **Instead of texting her back I decide to call her. She answers almost immediately.

"_Hello, Sanny._"

"Don't call me that."

"_I can call you anything I want after that shit you pulled with Hasselhoff._"

"Whatever." I sigh and run my free hand through my hair.

"_So, what's happening? Did you find her?_"

"I did. We fed the ducks and now we're at Breadstix. She got a call she had to take so she went outside."

"_You fed the ducks?_" She asks unbelievingly and I roll my eyes.

"Brittany was feeding the ducks when I came. She offered some bread to me so yeah, I fed the ducks. What's so hard to believe about that?"

"_Well, everything. Anyways…_" She drawls the word out before continuing. "… _so you took her out to lunch after that?_"

"Technically, she took me."

"_Interesting._" Once again I roll my eyes.

"Why is that interesting?"

"_Umm… no reason._"

"Remind me again why I'm friends with you?"

"_Because I'm awesome!_"

"No, pretty sure that's not it."

"_Sure it is! Puck asked me if we wanted to come to Zero Tolerance later for a beer. Are you in?_"

"Yeah, sounds good." I spot Brittany in the corner of my eye. "Britt is coming back so I'm gonna hang up now. Talk later?"

"_Yeah, sure!_" She says and I'm about to hang up when I hear her speak again. "_Oh, and San?_" She says and waits for my response.

"Yeah?"

"_I can't believe badass rock star Santana Lopez fed the ducks. That might ruin your reputation._" She laughs.

"Fuck you Q!" I retort and hang up the phone before she has the chance to say anything else. Brittany got back to the table and heard the last part of the conversation. She gives me a questioning look and I just shrug my shoulders.

"Quinn's being an ass."

"Okay." She says with a chuckle.

"We're meeting up with Puck later tonight for drinks if you want to join us?" Please say yes. She gives me a half smile and I'm pretty sure that means she's not joining us.

"That sounds like fun but I can't tonight. I have somewhere I need to be. And I actually have to get going now." She says sadly. Double the disappointment. I do my best in hiding it when I give her an understanding smile.

"Okay, let's get the check and get out of here then." She smiles back and I get Nathalie's attention who quickly walks the small distance over to us.

"Can we get the check, please?"

"Of course, Miss Lopez. I'll be right back with it."

"Thank you, Nathalie. And please call me Santana. I think we should be on a first name basis by now." I say giving the waitress a smile. Her face reddens a bit and she nods before turning around to get the check for us. I turn my attention back to Brittany again who's still smiling at me.

"What?" I chuckle at the amused look she's giving me.

"Nothing… it's just… you." She trails off and I frown in confusion.

"What about me?"

"You're amazing." She says it like it's the most obvious thing in the word. The fact that she thinks that about me makes my heart race. I force myself to take a deep breath before brushing the compliment off.

"Nah, not really." Nathalie returns with our check and I give her my credit card before Brittany has the chance to pay for the meal.

"I was supposed to pay." She says with a pout. "I invited you to lunch."

"Next time, Britt-Britt." Her pout disappears and is replaced with a smirk.

"Who says there's going to be a next time?"

"I am. You owe me." I return the smirk she's giving me with one of my own.

"So that's how it works, Miss Lopez?"

"Yes it is, Miss…" I trail off realizing I don't know her last name. "… I don't know your last name." She laughs and it makes my heart race again. God I love the sound of her laugh.

"Is that your way of asking me for it?"

"I guess it is."

"Well, I think you and I are on a first name basis too so you don't really need it." She smirks. I pout and she laughs again. "It's Pierce. My name is Brittany S. Pierce."

"Brittany S. Pierce." I say trying it out with a happy smile. "Perfect." Just when I'm about to ask her what the S stands for Nathalie comes back with my credit card.

"Here you go." She says and holds it out for me.

"Thanks." I take it and put it back in my handbag.

"The food was perfect Nathalie. Please give my thanks to Andrew." Brittany then says. I'm guessing Andrew is the name of the cook, and it seems like Brittany know everybody in this town.

"I will. And it was nice seeing you both." The waitress smiles before turning around to get back to her work.

"Hey Nathalie!" I say loud enough to get her attention again and she turns to me. "Would you be interested in seeing my show in Columbus when I go there during my next tour? I can get you a couple tickets." Her eyes go wide and her whole face lights up but she doesn't say anything. "I'm gonna take that as a yes?" I laugh.

"Oh my God! Yes! That would be awesome!" She shrieks and half of the people at the restaurant turns to her to see what's going on. She jumps up and down in excitement before rushing over to me and hugs me tightly.

"Okay, calm down Nathalie. Santana will have to give everybody here tickets if you keep screaming like that. You've caught everybody's attention now." Brittany laughs. Nathalie immediately calms down and looks around. Brittany's right. Almost every one is looking at us, and I guess most of them recognize me. We should probably get going before I'm stuck writing autographs and taking pictures. Not that I usually mind, but right now I just want a little more time with Brittany before she has to leave. Nathalie calms down a bit but she's still smiling like a lunatic.

"I'll bring the tickets the next time I come, okay?"

"That's perfect. Thank you so much, Santana."

"You're welcome, Nathalie." I give the waitress another smile and then turn my eyes towards Brittany. "Are you ready?" Feeling bold I hold out my hand for her to take. She looks at it for a second before taking it, and then giving me a beaming smile. That kind of smile that makes the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. The one that makes my heart skip a beat and me to forget how to breath for a moment. That one that I selfishly hope is reserved only for me.


End file.
